2023/09/11
National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Akita University, Iwate Medical University, Ehime University
Kitasato University, Kyorin University, Keio University School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
Tokushima University, Dokkyo Medical University, Hyogo Medical University, Fukuoka University
Key Findings
In this study, under a nationwide multi-center collaborative research framework, 176 medical institutions collaborated to hold training sessions on clinical practice guidelines for schizophrenia and depression for psychiatrists, and a large-scale analysis was conducted to determine whether the prescribing behaviors of the participants changed.
It was found that participants who attended the guideline training sessions began to practice pharmacotherapy consistent with the prescriptions recommended by the clinical practice guidelines.
The study revealed that training sessions on clinical practice guidelines are effective in bridging the gap between recommended treatments and actual clinical practice in psychiatric care, and the results of this research are expected to contribute to the social implementation of these guidelines.
Keywords: schizophrenia, depression, clinical practice guidelines, education, large-scale multi-center collaborative research, standardization of care, social implementation
The results of this research were published in the online edition of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences at 1:00 PM on Saturday, September 9, 2023 (JST).
Summary
Under an all-Japan multi-center collaborative research framework as part of the EGUIDE project (Effectiveness of GUIdeline for Dissemination and Education in psychiatric treatment; acronym: EGUIDE Project), led by Dr. Ryota Hashimoto, Director of the Department of Pathology of Mental Diseases, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 782 psychiatrists from 176 medical institutions with psychiatric beds attended training sessions on guidelines for schizophrenia and depression from 2016 to 2019. For 7,405 patients with schizophrenia and 3,794 patients with depression at the participating medical institutions, the implementation rate of guideline-recommended treatments was compared between patients treated by physicians who attended the training and those who did not, in order to examine the effectiveness of the training. For schizophrenia, the rates of antipsychotic monotherapy (a recommended treatment, regardless of concomitant use of other psychotropic drugs), treatment without prescriptions for anxiolytics or hypnotics, and antipsychotic monotherapy without concomitant use of other psychotropic drugs were all significantly higher for physicians who attended the training compared to those who did not. Similarly, for depression, it was revealed that the rates of antidepressant monotherapy without concomitant use of other psychotropic drugs and treatment without prescriptions for anxiolytics or hypnotics, both recommended treatments, were significantly higher for physicians who attended the training compared to those who did not. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of guideline training sessions in promoting the dissemination of guideline-recommended treatments.
For the full press release, please see below.