July 1, 1999Psychological Medicine
Training primary-care physicians to recognize, diagnose and manage depression: does it improve patient outcomes?
Why the study?
Does a 20-hour training program for primary-care physicians improve outcomes for patients with depression?
Population
1016 patients evaluated for depression from 17 primary-care physicians (518 pre-training, 498 post-training)
Comparison
20-hour training programme for primary-care… vs Patients managed by the same physicians prior to…
Design
Cohort
Follow-up
3 months and 1 year
Authors
Discussion
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Member takes
Implication
One-time physician training may yield only transient gains in depression care; leaves open whether sustained programs improve long-term outcomes.
Structured PICO
Does a 20-hour training program for primary-care physicians improve outcomes for patients with depression?
P
Population
1016 patients evaluated for depression from 17 primary-care physicians (518 pre-training, 498 post-training)
I
Intervention
20-hour training programme for primary-care physicians on detecting, diagnosing, and managing depression
C
Comparator
Patients managed by the same physicians prior to receiving the training (pre-training phase)
O
Outcome
Severity of psychopathology, duration of depressive episode, and level of daily functioning at 3 months and 1 yearpatient reported
Training primary-care physicians in depression management improves short-term outcomes, particularly for recent-onset depression, but these benefits do not persist at 1 year.
Cite This Study
Tiemens et al. (1999) studied this question.