Audit and feedback and educational outreach did not differ from printed educational materials for improving community nursing practice
Q Does audit and feedback (AF) and educational outreach (EO) improve community nursing practice and outcomes in patients with urinary incontinence (UI)?
METHODS
Design:
cluster randomised controlled trial.
Allocation:
concealed.
Blinding:
blinded {patients, data collectors, and data analysts}.*
Follow up period:
6 months.
Setting:
157 local family practices in the counties of East Midlands, West Midlands, and Northwest Anglia, UK.
Participants:
176 community nurses (district nurses and specialist health visitors) attached to ⩾1 of the family practices and 1078 patients ⩾16 years of age (83% women) who had UI; patients with permanent indwelling urethral or suprapubic urinary catheters were excluded.
Intervention:
38 practices (41 nurses, 276 patients) were allocated to AF, which comprised personal feedback sent by post to nurses on performance, emphasising good practice and suggestions for improvement; anonymous aggregated feedback on the performance of other study nurses; and a resource pack. 41 practices (46 nurses, 292 patients) were allocated to EO, which comprised personal feedback sent by post on self reported barriers …
