Does Access to Point-of-Care Medical Information Improve Trauma and General Surgeons’ Clinical Knowledge in a Middle-Income Country? A Mixed-Methods Study with Random Assignment

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Investing in continued medical education strengthens surgical systems. This study assessed the effectiveness of an evidence-based practice (EBP) tutorial and access to UpToDate (UTD) to improve EBP and understand how and why providers practice using evidence. STUDY DESIGN: This is a mixed-methods, implementation study at 9 public hospitals in Peru consisting of a didactic session for surgeons on EBP and Google Translate and support of applications for UTD access. Change in clinical knowledge scores (CKS), access and use of UTD, and impact of language pre-and postintervention were measured. Qualitative interviews uncovered reasons for these changes. RESULTS: Intervention participants had lower CKS at follow-up compared with baseline (odds ratio [OR] of higher score 0.41 [0.18,0.98]; p = 0.044), and this effect was modified (p = 0.003) to the extent that the reverse was true for control participants (OR 2.30 [1.13,4.71]; p = 0.022). Participants with 1 to 20 years of experience had significantly improved CKS compared with students/residents (1 to 10 years: OR 4.5 [1.1,18]; 11 to 20 years: OR 4.9 [1.4,17]); there was no evidence of a different CKS between providers with >20 years of experience compared with students/residents (OR 1.3 [0.5,3.7]). Administrative disconnect, usability, motivation, education, time, resources, and age influenced point-of-care medical information systems impact on knowledge and EBP. Participants reporting low English proficiency translated medical literature mostly used Google Translate. Those with low/no English reading proficiency had higher odds of reporting a negative impact on research than those with working (p = 0.007) or professional (p < 0.001) proficiency. CONCLUSIONS: Providing education on EBP, free UTD access, and translation solutions did not correlate with increased CKS due to complex barriers to using point-of-care medical information systems.