Changing practitioner behavior: what works?
| Intervention . | Description/Findings . |
|---|---|
| Audit and feedback | Particularly effective for prescribing and diagnostic testing |
| Reminders | Prompts the provider to perform clinical action |
| Outreach visits | Meetings with providers in practice settings to provide information and feedback |
| Patient-mediated interventions | Educating and informing patients – particularly useful when combined with outreach Visits |
| Opinion leaders | Providers explicitly nominated by their colleagues to be “educationally influential” |
| Conferences | Need to be explicit and related to the practice environment |
| Marketing | Use of interviews, focus groups, or surveys to identify barriers |
| Multifaceted | The use of a variety of interventions is most effective |
| Intervention . | Description/Findings . |
|---|---|
| Audit and feedback | Particularly effective for prescribing and diagnostic testing |
| Reminders | Prompts the provider to perform clinical action |
| Outreach visits | Meetings with providers in practice settings to provide information and feedback |
| Patient-mediated interventions | Educating and informing patients – particularly useful when combined with outreach Visits |
| Opinion leaders | Providers explicitly nominated by their colleagues to be “educationally influential” |
| Conferences | Need to be explicit and related to the practice environment |
| Marketing | Use of interviews, focus groups, or surveys to identify barriers |
| Multifaceted | The use of a variety of interventions is most effective |
Summary: there must be agreement that there is a problem and that the solution agreed-upon is the solution to the problem, combined with a system of information and feedback necessary to resolve the problem.