Evaluation of an Educational Intervention on Antibiotics in Dental Care

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Early Plain Portrait and Letter: In the context of audit and feedback interventions, the prescribing Portrait is a document produced by the Therapeutics Initiative that provides personalized prescribing feedback for clinicians in British Columbia. Portraits are used as a practice resource tool for reflection on prescribing or test-ordering patterns. The Portraits provide data of individual prescribing along with evidence-based benchmarks or targets. The "plain" Portrait includes the main message, prescriber's data (compare to optimal prescribing, with or without information on BC mean/median). Prescribers are also given access to a succinct review of the best available evidence on the topic and recommendations for future action in the Therapeutics Letter, a standalone publication that details the evidence for the recommended practice in a brief and practical manner, with references.

Early Complete Portrait and Letter: In the context of audit and feedback interventions, the prescribing Portrait is a document produced by the Therapeutics Initiative that provides personalized prescribing feedback for clinicians in British Columbia. Portraits are used as a practice resource tool for reflection on prescribing or test-ordering patterns. The Portraits provide data of individual prescribing along with evidence-based benchmarks or targets. The "complete" Portrait includes the main message, prescriber's data (compare to optimal prescribing, with or without information on BC mean/median) and a series of self-reflection questions. Prescribers are also given access to a succinct review of the best available evidence on the topic and recommendations for future action in the Therapeutics Letter, a standalone publication that details the evidence for the recommended practice in a brief and practical manner, with references.

No intervention: To measure the impact of the interventions, Arm C (Group 3) will receive no intervention in the Early mailing and Arm B (Group 2) will receive no intervention in the Delayed mailing.

Delayed Plain Portrait and Letter: Delayed "plain" Portrait and Letter (as described)

Delayed Complete Portrait: Delayed "complete" Portrait and Letter (as described)

Study summary

The goal of this randomized trial is to estimate the impact of personalized prescribing portraits and educational materials on prescribing of antibiotic medications by dentists in British Columbia, Canada.

The main research question is:

Did the prescribing Portraits and Therapeutics Letter lead to a change in clindamycin prescribing as a proportion of total antibiotic prescribing by dentists in British Columbia.

Study participants are dentists actively practicing in British Columbia. Participants were randomized to 3 study arms to received different combinations of one of two versions of the individual prescribing Portraits and a Therapeutics Letter in Early or Delayed Groups. Two versions of the prescribing Portrait were used: a "plain" version and a "complete" version, which included an additional section with self-reflection questions for clinicians.

Using administrative health data, the prescribing of those in different combinations of materials in the Early Group will be compared to those in the Delayed Group to estimate the impact of the materials on prescribing by the dentists.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Intention to treat analysis — Assessed from the baseline until the early intervention (6 months) to 6 months after the delayed intervention (total of 18 months).
  The primary outcome is the change in clindamycin prescribing (number of new starts) as a proportion of total antibiotic prescribing associated with the interventions.

Trial sites (1)

More University of British Columbia trials in Canada

Other trials for the same condition