title: Do continuing medical education articles foster shared decision making?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Defined as reviews of clinical aspects of a specific health problem published in peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed medical journals, offered without charge, continuing medical education (CME) articles form a key strategy for translating knowledge into practice. This study assessed CME articles for mention of evidence-based information on benefits and harms of available treatment and/or preventive options that are deemed essential for shared decision making (SDM) to occur in clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Articles were selected from 5 medical journals that publish CME articles and are provided free of charge to primary-care physicians of the Province of Quebec, Canada. Two individuals independently scored each article with the use of a 10-item checklist based on the International Patient Decision Aid Standards. In case of discrepancy, the item score was established by team consensus. Scores were added to produce a total article score ranging from 0 (no item present) to 10 (all items present).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty articles (6 articles per journal) were selected. Total article scores ranged from 1 to 9, with a mean (+/- SD) of 3.1 +/- 2.0 (95% confidence interval 2.8-4.3). Health conditions and treatment options were the items most frequently discussed in the articles; next came treatment benefits. Possible harms, the use of the same denominators for benefits and harms, and methods to facilitate the communication of benefits and harms to patients were almost never described. No significant differences between journals were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CME articles evaluated did not include the evidence-based information necessary to foster SDM in clinical practice. Peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed medical journals should require CME articles to include this type of information.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Canada. michel.labrecque@mfa.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labrecque
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lafortune
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lajeunesse
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lambert-Perrault
authors.forename: Hermes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Manrique
authors.forename: Johanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blais
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Légaré
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003657:Decision Making; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000193:education*