Objective: Clinicians contract with a number of health plans and are confronted with many sets of conflicting guidelines for preventive care. To address this concern, the Medical Directors of the nine largest HPs in NJ reached consensus on a consistent set of CPS guidelines to be used by their contracted clinicians in an effort to improve the delivery of preventive care. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate if clinicians' knowledge and use of CPS guidelines improves between the time prior to receiving health plan consensus guidelines (HPCG) and after receiving the HPCG. Design: Within subjects, repeated measures design. Sample, Population, Setting, Years: All nurse practitioners and/or physicians (MD/DO) providing preventive care services to men, women, or children that contract with at least one of nine NJ health plans. Intervention and Outcome Variable(s): The expected outcome of this study is an improvement in clinicians' knowledge and use of CPS guidelines between the time prior to receiving HPCG and after receiving the HPCG. Methods: Clinicians were requested to complete a questionnaire, assessing knowledge and use of CPS guidelines. Clinicians completing this questionnaire will be sent a second questionnaire three months later. The second questionnaire will assess knowledge of CPS guidelines and their current use of these recommendations to provide preventive care services to their patients. Findings: Study is ongoing. Conclusions: The methods in this study will provide valuable information regarding the effectiveness of competing health plans disseminating one consistent set of CPS guidelines in an effort to improve the delivery of CPS in clinician practice. Implications: The momentum is increasing in support of evidence-based practice that will improve the quality of patient care and decrease the morbidity and mortality of preventable diseases. Nurses need the organizational and HP support in order to implement these preventive care practices.
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Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003