Clinician Education Improves Lipid Monitoring in Patients Taking Second-Generation Antipsychotic Agents, Nationally and Locally

BackgroundContinuing medical education (CME) seeks to improve patient health by promoting clinician practice change. Many patients with a diagnosis of either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia are predisposed to cardiovascular risk, and the use of second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) medications that can cause significant weight gain and altering of lipid profiles may compound this risk. An educational analysis identified a performance gap related to psychiatrists' gathering of baseline lipid data in their patients.ObjectiveThis study analyzes the degree to which participation in 2 CME activities improves clinicians' rates of lipid monitoring in patients with mental illness who take SGAs.Study DesignAfter participation in 1 or 2 CME activities on improved cardiometabolic monitoring in patients with major mental illness—in which one activity focused on schizophrenia and the other on bipolar disorder—a nationwide group (NG) of clinician learners was surveyed about lipid monitoring practices among patients during these patients' first 16 weeks of SGA therapy over a 12-month period. Responses from the NG were compared with those from 1) a nationwide control group (CG) and 2) a local group of activity participants at the Lindner Center of HOPE—Cincinnati, Ohio (LG), whose measured rates were documented via medical records data extraction; the LG also received institutional encouragement and support for practice change for lipid monitoring in these patients.ResultsPercentages of patients monitored by clinicians in the NG increased by 18.0 percentage points over 1 year from baseline (P = 0.00001) and represented a rate change that was higher than that seen in the CG (P < 0.00001). Gross, median monitoring rates in the NG increased from 27.5% to 80.0%, and all clinicians at or above the 75th percentile of monitoring rates monitored 100% of their patients after participating. Monitoring rate increases for clinicians in the NG were greater among clinicians with higher patient counts. The LG saw a 28 percentage-point increase (from 27.5% to 55.5%), representing a 102% increase over the baseline LG rate and a 56% increase over the rate change seen in the NG.ConclusionsCME interventions can improve lipid-monitoring practices among clinicians who treat patients with major mental illness who take SGAs. Local, institutional support for guideline-recommended monitoring may increase nationwide CME-induced change yet further.