Abstract
Background/Aims: To use grant funding resulting from lawsuit settlement funds from off-label marketing of Neurontin® to develop, implement, and evaluate a web-based curriculum on drug marketing and prescribing, and to revise the material using evaluation data from a live pilot session. The final revised curriculum will be made available to prescribers in the public domain.
Methods: Content and education experts developed an educational course entitled ‘Optimal Prescribing,’ which consisted of five modules of slides, video clips, narration, cases, interviews, and interactive slides. The course was presented to physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners from the Lovelace Health System in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a live 5-hour workshop. Data were collected using an audience response system, a pretest and posttest, a written evaluation form, and staff observations. These data were analyzed and summarized to revise the material to produce web-based modules for use by prescribers in the public domain. In addition to the live pilot evaluation, these prescribers and a control group of providers who did not attend the pilot course will be surveyed to assess the impact of the education on attitudes about relationships with industry representatives, the amount and source of information that guide prescribing decisions, and self-reported changes in prescribing patterns.
Results: Twenty-five prescribers participated in the live pilot session on June 23, 2007. From the analysis of the data, it is clear that the materials must be reduced in length and tied to very clear learning objectives in order for future users of the material to be motivated to complete the course. The longer the module in the pilot session, the less engaged the learners were. The learners expressed a need for more information on interpreting research studies and performing calculations such as the number needed to treat/harm. The learners valued a checklist of information needed to make informed prescribing decisions and lists of balanced sources of information. The 6 month post-pilot survey is being prepared and results will be available by March 2008.
Conclusions: To make this curriculum more useful to prescribers, it must be simplified in format and content, while preserving and enhancing the key insights of the curriculum. Subsequent evaluation will include the self-reported effect on prescribing and attitudes toward industry influence on prescribing decisions.
- Received September 11, 2008.
