Abstract
BackgroundPrimary care has a vital role in supporting patient autonomy to enable people with long-term conditions to manage their own health and wellness. Evidence is needed on whether education and training of health professionals helps support patient self-management and improves outcomes. The authors' first systematic review included only two articles showing patient outcomes following health professional training for promoting patient self-management.AimTo present an updated review undertaken from September 2013 to August 2018.Design & settingA systematic review was undertaken using the PRISMA guidelines, following the methodology of the first review and is outlined in the PROSPERO registered protocol.MethodSix databases were searched — Cochrane Library, PubMed, ERIC, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PsycINFO — in addition to web searches, hand searches, and bibliographies for articles published from 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2018.ResultsThe updated systematic review showed more evidence is now available with 18 articles in the 5-year period from the 4284 abstracts located. Twelve of these articles showed a difference between intervention and control groups. Of the 18 articles identified, 11 were assessed as having a low risk of bias and five overall were rated of weak quality. The educational interventions with health professionals spanned a range of techniques and modalities, and many incorporated multiple interventions including patient components. There may be a lack of adoption owing to several challenges, including that complex interventions may not be delivered as planned and are difficult to assess, and owing to patient engagement and the need for ongoing follow-up.ConclusionMore high-quality research is needed on what methods work best, for which patients, and for what clinical conditions in the primary care setting. The practical implications of training healthcare professionals require specific attention.
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines chronic conditions as those that encompass disability and disease that people ‘live with’ for extended periods of time.[1]
The updated systematic review showed more evidence is available with 18 articles in the 5-year period from the 4284 abstracts located
The educational interventions with health professionals spanned a range of techniques and modalities, and many incorporated multiple interventions including patient components
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines chronic conditions as those that encompass disability and disease that people ‘live with’ for extended periods of time.[1]. Some studies demonstrate the benefit of self-management support[9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18] for people with chronic conditions; it is reported that patients with chronic conditions tend not to respond as well to lifestyle interventions.[19] Primary care has a key role in supporting patient autonomy to enable patients to develop expertise in managing their own health and wellness.[20] This support has been identified as a potentially impactful avenue,[21] with education and training noted as potential ways of engaging primary care clinicians in patient self-management support.[22] it is recognised that visits in primary care may be brief and that low levels of readiness to change may exist among patients.[23]. The authors' first systematic review included only two articles showing patient outcomes following health professional training for promoting patient self-management
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