Spaced Education to Optimize Prostate Cancer Screening

Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial

Official title:

Spaced Education to Optimize Prostate Cancer Screening

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01168323
• Other study ID #: M15310
• Secondary ID: IRB# 17865K08HS0
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 20, 2010
• Last updated: August 6, 2010
• Start date: January 2007
• Est. completion date: February 2009

Study information

• Verified date: July 2010
• Source: Harvard University Faculty of Medicine
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Two memory research findings (the spacing and testing effects) can dramatically improve retention of learning, but they have largely have been ignored by educators. The researchers have developed a novel form of online education (termed 'spaced education') based on these two effects which has been shown in randomized trials to improve knowledge acquisition and boost learning retention. Using prostate cancer screening as an experimental system, the researchers investigated whether spaced education could durably improve clinicians' behaviors, not just their knowledge.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 95
• Est. completion date: February 2009
• Est. primary completion date: February 2009
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primary care providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) from the 8 Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals in the New England region (Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 [VISN-1]) were eligible to enroll.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Primary care providers (PCPs) who ordered PSA as a screen for prostate cancer less than 10 times each year were excluded.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Prostate Cancer
• Prostatic Neoplasms

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Online spaced education
Spaced education is currently delivered via periodic emails that contain clinical case scenarios and multiple-choice questions. Upon submitting answers to each question online, clinicians receive immediate feedback and educational material. The questions are then repeated over spaced intervals of time to harness the pedagogical benefits of the spacing effect.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System	Boston	Massachusetts

Sponsors (7)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Harvard University Faculty of Medicine	Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), American Urological Association, Astellas Pharma US, Inc., National Institutes of Health (NIH), VA Office of Research and Development, Wyeth is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Percentage of inappropriate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening performed by clinicians	The primary outcome measure was the difference in the percentage of inappropriate PSA screening performed by clinicians in the spaced education and control cohorts. Based on published clinical guidelines and reports, inappropriate PSA utilization was defined as the use of PSA for prostate cancer screening in patients >76 or <40 years old, or with an estimated life expectancy of less than 10 years.	Weeks 1-108	No
Secondary	Change in test scores between cohorts measured in weeks 1-36		Weeks 1-36	No
Secondary	Change in spaced education performance measured in weeks 1-36		Weeks 1-36	No
Secondary	Clinicians' intention to participate in future spaced education programs	Assessed on end-of program survey at week 36	Week 36	No
Secondary	Time required by clinicians to complete the spaced education questions-explanations	Assessed on end-of program survey at week 36	Week 36	No