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Pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate guidelines for the management of infertility across the primary care-secondary care interface

Pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate guidelines for the management of infertility across the primary care-secondary care interface
Pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate guidelines for the management of infertility across the primary care-secondary care interface
Objective: To investigate the effect of clinical guidelines on the management of infertility across the primary care-secondary care interface.
Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial.
Setting: General practices and NHS hospitals accepting referrals for infertility in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area.
Participants: All 221 general practices in Glasgow; 214 completed the trial.
Intervention: General practices in the intervention arm received clinical guidelines developed locally. Control practices received them one year later. Dissemination of the guidelines included educational meetings.
Main outcome measures: The time from presentation to referral, investigations completed in general practice, the number and content of visits as a hospital outpatient, the time to reach a management plan, and costs for referrals from the two groups.
Results: Data on 689 referrals were collected. No significant difference was found in referral rates for infertility. Fewer than 1% of couples were referred inappropriately early. Referrals from intervention practices were significantly more likely to have all relevant investigations carried out (odds ratio 1.32, 95% confidence interval 1.00 to 1.75, P=0.025). 70% of measurements of serum progesterone concentrations during the midluteal phase and 34% of semen analyses were repeated at least once in hospital, despite having been recorded as normal when checked in general practice. No difference was found in the proportion of referrals in which a management plan was reached within one year or in the mean duration between first appointment and date of management plan. NHS costs were not significantly affected.
Conclusions: Dissemination of infertility guidelines by commonly used methods results in a modest increase in referrals having recommended investigations completed in general practice, but there are no detectable differences in outcome for patients or reduction in costs. Clinicians in secondary care tended to fail to respond to changes in referral practice by doctors. Guidelines that aim to improve the referral process need to be disseminated and implemented so as to lead to changes in both primary care and secondary care.
0959-8138
1282-1284
Morrison, Jillian
b4fc9c98-2f61-4c9b-b4cb-9c0a3c0a44df
Carroll, Louise
97a5e329-1f98-4c76-8397-8fb144ae4009
Twaddle, Sara
b268afe3-897c-4764-a8bf-45f52757dc40
Cameron, Iain
f7595539-efa6-4687-b161-e1e93ff710f2
Grimshaw, Jeremy
6e58b208-6dbd-4a33-b034-0f2a38b5e375
Leyland, Alastair
ad73f1f1-c42a-4e4f-a807-b20047b9449c
Baillie, Heather
0cd9ccb6-b5e7-43e1-a21d-13dc710b4c1e
Watt, Graham
93adc293-236c-46e3-a3f9-402d1ca1fe2b
Morrison, Jillian
b4fc9c98-2f61-4c9b-b4cb-9c0a3c0a44df
Carroll, Louise
97a5e329-1f98-4c76-8397-8fb144ae4009
Twaddle, Sara
b268afe3-897c-4764-a8bf-45f52757dc40
Cameron, Iain
f7595539-efa6-4687-b161-e1e93ff710f2
Grimshaw, Jeremy
6e58b208-6dbd-4a33-b034-0f2a38b5e375
Leyland, Alastair
ad73f1f1-c42a-4e4f-a807-b20047b9449c
Baillie, Heather
0cd9ccb6-b5e7-43e1-a21d-13dc710b4c1e
Watt, Graham
93adc293-236c-46e3-a3f9-402d1ca1fe2b

Morrison, Jillian, Carroll, Louise, Twaddle, Sara, Cameron, Iain, Grimshaw, Jeremy, Leyland, Alastair, Baillie, Heather and Watt, Graham (2001) Pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate guidelines for the management of infertility across the primary care-secondary care interface. BMJ, 322 (7297), 1282-1284. (doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7297.1282).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effect of clinical guidelines on the management of infertility across the primary care-secondary care interface.
Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial.
Setting: General practices and NHS hospitals accepting referrals for infertility in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area.
Participants: All 221 general practices in Glasgow; 214 completed the trial.
Intervention: General practices in the intervention arm received clinical guidelines developed locally. Control practices received them one year later. Dissemination of the guidelines included educational meetings.
Main outcome measures: The time from presentation to referral, investigations completed in general practice, the number and content of visits as a hospital outpatient, the time to reach a management plan, and costs for referrals from the two groups.
Results: Data on 689 referrals were collected. No significant difference was found in referral rates for infertility. Fewer than 1% of couples were referred inappropriately early. Referrals from intervention practices were significantly more likely to have all relevant investigations carried out (odds ratio 1.32, 95% confidence interval 1.00 to 1.75, P=0.025). 70% of measurements of serum progesterone concentrations during the midluteal phase and 34% of semen analyses were repeated at least once in hospital, despite having been recorded as normal when checked in general practice. No difference was found in the proportion of referrals in which a management plan was reached within one year or in the mean duration between first appointment and date of management plan. NHS costs were not significantly affected.
Conclusions: Dissemination of infertility guidelines by commonly used methods results in a modest increase in referrals having recommended investigations completed in general practice, but there are no detectable differences in outcome for patients or reduction in costs. Clinicians in secondary care tended to fail to respond to changes in referral practice by doctors. Guidelines that aim to improve the referral process need to be disseminated and implemented so as to lead to changes in both primary care and secondary care.

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Published date: 26 May 2001

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 25834
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/25834
ISSN: 0959-8138
PURE UUID: f3ecd5a5-0149-4015-885b-c65312d361ae
ORCID for Iain Cameron: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4875-267X

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Date deposited: 21 Apr 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:00

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Contributors

Author: Jillian Morrison
Author: Louise Carroll
Author: Sara Twaddle
Author: Iain Cameron ORCID iD
Author: Jeremy Grimshaw
Author: Alastair Leyland
Author: Heather Baillie
Author: Graham Watt

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