Impact of educational outreach intervention on enhancing health care providers' knowledge about statin therapy prescribing in Malaysian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

• Main Authors: Elnaem, Mohamed Hassan, Nik Mohamed, Mohamad Haniki, Huri, Hasniza Zaman, Azarisman, Shah Mohd Shah
• Format: Article
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: R Medicine
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/1237/; https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.12903
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

Rationale: Previous research reported underutilization of statin therapy among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Improving health care providers' awareness and understanding of the benefits and risks of statin treatment could be of assistance in optimizing the statin prescribing process. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to assess health care providers' knowledge related to statin therapy and the impact of educational outreach intervention based on the perceived knowledge. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study based on educational outreach intervention targeting physicians and pharmacists in 1 major tertiary hospital in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. Participants responded to a 12-item, validated questionnaire both prior to and after the outreach educational program. Two sessions were conducted separately for 2 cohorts of pharmacists and physicians. The knowledge scores prior to and after the educational intervention were calculated and compared using a paired-samples t-test. Results: The response rate to both pre-and post-educational outreach questionnaires was 91% (40/44). Prior to the intervention, around 84% (n37) of the participants decided to initiate statin therapy for both pre-assessment clinical case scenarios; however, only 27% (n12) could state the clinical benefits of statin therapy. Forty-five percent (n20) could state the drug to drug interactions, and 52.3% (n23) could identify the statin therapy that can be given at any time day/evening. The educational outreach program increased participants' knowledge scores of 1.450 (95% CI, 0.918 to 1.982) point, P <.0005, which is statistically significant. Forty respondents (91%) were of the opinion that statin side effects are the most common cause of treatment discontinuation. Conclusion: This work demonstrated the impact of an educational outreach intervention on improving health care providers' knowledge and beliefs about statin therapy. This type of intervention is considered effective for short-term knowledge enhancement. Further research is needed to test the long-term efficacy of such intervention.