Online Primary Care Physician (PCP) Training in Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral, and Treatment

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
This project seeks to develop a comprehensive, computer-based education program for primary care physicians that will improve their skills in structured substance abuse screening, brief interventions, and referral and treatment (SBIRT). The investigators will develop two online education programs based on virtual patient (VP) technology. One program will include five typical, interactive, problem-solving VPs and the second will include five identical VPs except that two VPs will have been worked by substance abuse experts and presented as case studies. The remaining three VPs will be unworked (typical VPs). The investigators hypothesize that both education programs will significantly improve educational outcomes, compared to no training, as measured by a validated survey tool. A secondary hypothesis is that physicians using the worked (guided learning) program will achieve similar educational results as those using the typical VP approach, but will require less training time.

Official Title
-----------------
Fast Track SBIR Study Online PCP Training in Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral, and Treatment

Conditions
-----------------
Medical Education

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: Online education


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: Physician in primary care training program Faculty member in primary care training program Exclusion Criteria: Advanced medical training in substance abuse management
Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Unworked VP<br>Online education using typical virtual patient (VP) approach. Five unworked VPs presented to subjects for study. | Behavioral: Online education<br>* A brief (2-hour) interactive online training program in substance abuse (SU) management using virtual patient (VP) technology. Each learner will take one of two similar online programs involving five VPs that represent the range of SU management issues that commonly arise in clinical practice.<br>|
| Experimental: Guided Learning<br>Online education replaces two unworked VPs in Arm 1 with identical worked example VPs (case studies) for learners to study | Behavioral: Online education<br>* A brief (2-hour) interactive online training program in substance abuse (SU) management using virtual patient (VP) technology. Each learner will take one of two similar online programs involving five VPs that represent the range of SU management issues that commonly arise in clinical practice.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scores on The Physicians' Competence in Substance Abuse Test (P-CSAT) | The Physicians' Competence in Substance Abuse Test (P-CSAT) was developed as part of this project. Information, including a complete description of the P-CSAT, has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal | Following completion of education program and 2 months later | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
Online education, Medical education, Substance abuse training, Drug abuse training