The RightSTEPS initiative: Continuing education impact on clinicians’ optimal medical therapy practices for chronic heart failure
Priya Wanchoo, Ellen Cohen, Kathleen Donnelly-Bensalah, Katherine E. Stone, Margot Embree Fisher, Adelfo M. SanValentin, Lynne Callea
Abstract
PURPOSE: Despite the existence of expert recommendations that can improve morbidity and mortality, reduce the need for hospitalization or readmission, and enhance quality of life in patients with heart failure (HF), many patients do not receive optimal medical therapy (OMT). The goal of this initiative, titled RightSTEPS, was to help physicians take the right steps to apply-evidence-based HF management strategies in clinical practice. METHODS: Using the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model aimed at improving the clinical behavior of the learner, the instructional design featured 23 online and live face-to-face activities offering up to 16 credit hours of CME/CNE credit. These activities were delivered sequentially in three phases: predisposing, enabling and reinforcing. The lessons provided concise, pragmatic, stepwise management strategies aimed at empowering clinicians to prescribe evidence-based, guideline-directed OMT for patients with HF. RESULTS: < 0.0001) increase in knowledge and competence related to HF OMT among the clinician learners. Furthermore, follow-up surveys indicated a commitment from learners to implement these guideline-directed strategies in their clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: This initiative demonstrated that the design of the RightSTEPS curriculum, using the Precede-Proceed model with sequentially-delivered, blended learning, provides a methodological framework to help learners translate knowledge into improvements in clinical behavior with the potential to improve patient health outcomes.