Randomized controlled trial of general practitioner tutor visit or mailingto encourage general practice-based education

Objectives Evaluation of a general practitioner tutor visit, or mailing, wi th regard to the amount of practice-based education occurring in general pr actices. Design An initial survey of all practices in the Mersey Deanery was underta ken. General practices which replied were randomly allocated to receive a G P tutor visit (n = 38), to receive a mailing (n = 38) or to a control group (n = 36). Visits carried out by tutors covered a loosely agreed format. Al l practices were sent a follow-up survey identical to the original one at 6 months after the intervention. Setting General practices in the Mersey Deanery, north-west England. Subjects General practices which had replied to an initial survey. Results The amount of both specifically arranged and informal practice-base d meetings increased in all groups. No changes were statistically significa nt. Conclusions This study illustrates the difficulty of assessing educational interventions by randomized controlled trials. Such interventions are often expensive, complex and difficult to standardize. A substantial amount of p ractice-based education is taking place.