A systematic review of educational outreach visits for non-prescribing interventions in general practice

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of educational outreach visits for non-prescribing interventions in general practice through a systematic review of the literature METHODS: A systematic review of literature found through searching MeSH titles, text words and keywords previously applied to other continuing medical education systematic reviews. RESULTS: All of the studies reviewed reported that educational outreach visits had a positive effect, though the impact varied greatly between the studies. The impact was mainly on the process of care. The clinical relevance of these changes remains unclear. In most cases there was a lack of information about participants lost to follow-up and issues of concealment and contamination. CONCLUSIONS: Although all of the studies had some methodological weaknesses, educational outreach visits for non-prescribing interventions in general practice can improve process of care across different settings. The success of these interventions did not appear to improve with the complexity of intervention. Studies with longer follow-up periods are required.