Chapter 54. Educational Techniques Used in Changing Provider Behavior

Background A number of techniques have been used to modify the behavior of practicing physicians. Continuing medical education, practice guidelines and critical pathways represent a major thrust of these efforts. The relative effectiveness of each is largely dependent on the particular strategy employed in their implementation. Traditionally these strategies have focused on lectures and printed materials but other techniques have also been utilized, including audit and feedback, academic detailing, local opinion leaders and reminder systems. In addition, some have championed the use of sentinel event reporting and root cause analysis in graduate medical education programs. Only recently have these various techniques been critically evaluated for their effectiveness at changing physician behavior. This chapter reviews the evidence regarding the utility of educational-oriented techniques to improve provider behavior, particularly as they do or might pertain to patient safety practices. Incident reporting (Chapter 4), root cause analysis (Chapter 5), guidelines (Chapter 51), pathways (Chapter 52), and decision support systems (Chapter 53) are reviewed elsewhere in the Report.