Group Education on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Adherence: Could it Be More Efficient as well as More Effective?

Abstract

Free AccessPositive Airway PressureGroup Education on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Adherence: Could it Be More Efficient as well as More Effective? Kieran Walsh, FRCPI, FHEA Kieran Walsh, FRCPI, FHEA Address correspondence to: Dr. Kieran Walsh, BMJ Learning, BMJ Publishing Group, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR0207 38365500207 3836242 E-mail Address: [email protected] BMJ Learning, BMJ Publishing Group, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, UK Search for more papers by this author Published Online:September 15, 2013https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.3010Cited by:1SectionsPDF ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations AboutINTRODUCTIONLettieri et al. should be congratulated for their study on the impact of group education on continuous positive airway pressure adherence.1 At the end of the study, the authors rightly consider what factors may have made the group sessions more effective than the individual sessions. However they overlook perhaps the most important difference between the two types of session. The time that patients spent in the individual sessions was 45 minutes, but the time spent in the group sessions was 120 to 150 minutes. When examined from this perspective, it is perhaps unsurprising that patients in the group sessions had better outcomes than those in the individual sessions: the intervention that they received was three times the size of the standard intervention.There is another element to the study that the authors could have made more of. They mention costs occasionally but only in a tangential way—they do not delve deeply into the costs of the two interventions. The authors suggest that the group sessions may be more cost efficient as well as more effective, but currently there is no proof that this is the case, and many educational initiatives that appear at face value to be more cost efficient turn out not to be.2To prove the case definitively one way or the other, the components of both interventions need to be accounted for—these will include faculty, facilities, equipment, and consumables. These components will need to be costed and the costs added up. Once the costs of both interventions are known, the stage will be set for a cost effectiveness analysis—ideally done as a randomized controlled trial. This may seem like a sizeable amount of work but the outcomes could be rewarding—an intervention that is both more effective and cost effective than alternatives.DISCLOSURE STATEMENTKieran Walsh is clinical director of BMJ Learning–the education service of the BMJ Group, London, UK.CITATIONWalsh K. Group education on continuous positive airway pressure adherence: could it be more efficient as well as more effective? J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(9):973.REFERENCES1 Lettieri CJ, Walter RJImpact of group education on continuous positive airway pressure adherence. J Clin Sleep Med; 2013;9:537-41, 23772185. LinkGoogle Scholar2 Walsh KCost effectiveness in medical educationAbingdon: Radcliffe; 2010. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byGroup Education on CPAP–A ResponseLettieri C and Walter R Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Vol. 09, No. 09, (975-976), Online publication date: 15-Sep-2013. Volume 09 • Issue 09 • September 15, 2013ISSN (print): 1550-9389ISSN (online): 1550-9397Frequency: Monthly Metrics History Submitted for publicationJune 1, 2013Accepted for publicationJune 1, 2013Published onlineSeptember 15, 2013 Information© 2013 American Academy of Sleep MedicinePDF download