Provider Education and Clinical Decision Support Tool Improve Proficiency in Advanced Therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background: Despite the growing availability of advanced medical therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), significant gaps remain in treatment initiation. Targeted education and point-of-care clinical decision support may address this gap and lead to improved patient outcomes.

Methods: A multiphase IBD-focused provider education and decision support program spanning 10 years was developed consisting of (1) symposia-based education (n = 1101 learners; 2014 to 2019), (2) point-of-care education (n = 8547 learners) with clinical decision support tool (CDST) deployment (n = 11 940 users, n = 954 learners; 2019 to 2023), and (3) data-driven platform optimization (2024). Modifications were made through qualitative learner and user surveys, crowdsourced cases to guide implementation, and quantitative data metrics. A matched prepost methodology for testing was used for learners, and a key outcome measure was impact on mastery defined as correctness and confidence for scenario-based questions.

Results: Symposia-based education significantly improved provider knowledge, competence, and confidence for all learning domains except shared decision making and treatment selection. Based on learner data and qualitative provider feedback, a freely accessible web-based platform was launched (IBD CDST; www.CDSTforIBD.com). The platform had significant positive impacts on knowledge, competence, confidence, practice, and clinical decision-making learning domains, including shared decision-making. A greater than 200% increase in mastery was observed because of the educational platform model. The impact was consistent for physicians and advanced practice providers.

Conclusions: We have built a freely accessible web-based decision support tool platform for advanced medical therapy selection in IBD that significantly improved provider mastery in decision-making for advanced medical therapies.