Do lessons learned in a training intervention on web-based health care resources diffuse to nonexposed members in the primary care setting? A comparative study.

objectiveThe Internet offers a significant information resource for health professionals. A strategy to improve the use of these resources is for health care providers and staff to receive specific training. The aim of this study was to determine whether those who attended an Internet health care resource training intervention transferred knowledge and skills to others in the practice.

methodsTwenty-four primary care practices participated in the study in which 64 providers and staff attended a training intervention and 288 did not. A preintervention questionnaire that assessed knowledge, skill, and Internet usage was compared with a postintervention questionnaire. The main effect of interest in the linear model was the group by time interaction term, to determine whether knowledge and skill improved for both groups.

resultsThere were 41 attendees and 222 nonattendees that completed both pre- and postintervention questionnaires. There were 9 variables that showed a possible diffusion pattern, in which both attendees and nonattendees improved between pre- and postintervention. Overall, the training intervention seemed to have impacted knowledge and skills of the respondents and also reported improvements in the clinical area of patient education, but frequency of use for most Web resources for medical decision making did not improve.

conclusionAn improvement strategy that depends on a training intervention for a few members in a practice may not necessarily transfer relative to all aspects of patient care.