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Table 3 The CME effect on GPs’ knowledge about cancer diagnosis. The proportion of GPs responding most appropriately (MAAA) is shown for each item; one month before (Before) and seven months after (After) the CME. GPs are divided into two groups: CME-participating group and reference group. An effect within a group is shown as a risk ratio (RR0 for the Reference group; RR1 for the CME-participating group). Comparisons between groups are shown as ratio of risk ratios (RR1/RR0)

From: Impact of continuing medical education in cancer diagnosis on GP knowledge, attitude and readiness to investigate – a before-after study

  

Reference group

CME Participating group

Comparison between groups

N = 121

N = 81

 

MAAA

Before

After

Before vs. after

Before

After

Before vs. after

RR1/RR0 (p*)

% (n)

% (n)

RR0 (p*)

% (n)

% (n)

RR1 (p*)

What is the likelihood that a 50-year-old patient having cancer at the time you choose to refer the patient to a cancer fast-track pathway?

2–10 %

29.8 (36)

38.8 (47)

1.31 (<0.001)

23.5 (19)

65.4 (53)

2.79 (<0.001)

2.13 (0.009)

What is the likelihood that a patient aged 40 years or more, who is smoker, has lung cancer the second time s/he presents with haemoptysis in your practice?

5–20 %

33.1 (40)

34.7 (42)

1.05 (0.698)

33.3 (27)

58.0 (47)

1.74 (0.010)

1.63 (0.160)

What is the likelihood that a patient aged 40 years or more has colorectal cancer the first time that s/he presents with unintended weight loss and new onset of constipation in your practice?

2–6 %

8.3 (10)

9.9 (12)

1.19 (0.039)

6.2 (5)

28.4 (23)

4.6 (<0.001)

3.83 (0.055)

What is the likelihood that a lung cancer cannot be detected on a chest x-ray at the time of diagnosis?

≥15 %

81.8 (99)

86.0 (104)

1.05 (0.741)

76.5 (62)

81.5 (66)

1.06 (0.243)

1.07 (0.309)

What is the proportion of patients with colorectal cancer who presented an alarm symptom as the first sign of the disease to his/her general practitioner?

≤60 %

81.8 (99)

86.0 (104)

1.05 (0.449)

82.7 (67)

90.1 (73)

1.09 (0.006)

1.04 (0.614)

What is the proportion of patients with ovarian cancer who can be detected by a pelvic examination (palpation) in general practice at the time of diagnosis?

≤41 %

90.0 (110)

94.2 (114)

1.04 (0.078)

85.2 (69)

92.6 (75)

1.09 (0.012)

1.05 (0.322)

  1. Bold = significance level of p ≤ 0.05. *corrected for clustering at the study-step-level