AAFP's METRIC Videos Designed to Increase Program's Efficiency

The Academy's online performance improvement program, known as METRIC, or Measuring, Evaluating and Translating Research Into Care, has entered a new phase with the launch of three new videos. The resources were created to highlight the value of the METRIC program and to help physicians use the program more efficiently.

"Performance improvement CME, or PI-CME, is nontraditional CME and not always understood by the learners," said Susan Richart, the AAFP's manager of performance assessment and improvement.

METRIC, which was launched in 2005 as a performance improvement initiative, links evidence-based medicine with education and gives physicians an opportunity to evaluate their management of chronic diseases and make systematic changes to improve patient outcomes.

The Academy currently offers METRIC modules on six clinical conditions -- asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, depression, diabetes and hypertension. A seventh module focuses on improving the care of geriatric patients.

"The videos are a direct result of user feedback," said Richart. "As physicians worked through the various METRIC modules, we discovered that a few kinks in the program were keeping some people from making progress."

Hence the creation of a "10 tips" video complete with hands-on advice about how to successfully complete a METRIC module. Most of the players in the video are practicing physicians who have chalked up a METRIC completion or two themselves and are eager to help their colleagues avoid mistakes that may derail progress.

"Don't make the implementation of your action plan harder than it needs to be. Links to all the resources you need are in the METRIC program," advises one physician featured in the video. "When you select your interventions, don't take on too much at one time," warns another.

A second video offers a primer on the METRIC program. The moderator empowers the viewer when he says, "You pick the project. You and your team make a change in your practice, and then you look at your results to see if you've improved patient care."

Suzanne Rowden, M.D., of Overland Park, Kan., one FP featured on the video, says, "METRIC CME is doing. It's an action. Instead of just an intellectual exercise, it's putting information and best practices into your everyday work."

Ted Ganiats, M.D., of La Jolla, Calif., puts it this way: "With METRIC, you actually evaluate your practice; see what has to be done; and then, with METRIC tools, apply it to your practice to make your practice better."

This video also explains how METRIC can help physicians earn CME credit, fulfill their Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians Part IV (performance-in-practice) requirement, and use METRIC in residency programs, as well as how it can help practices achieve recognition as patient-centered medical homes.

The third video, titled "Model for Improvement," offers an overview of the value of practice improvement. Physicians can use this video as a guide as they develop improvement projects, said Richart.

This video describes performance improvement as stepping back to assess how a practice is doing and then challenging the practice to do even better. It walks physicians through processes such as how to create an aim statement, how to set realistic timelines, how to measure progress and how to keep staff updated on results.

Physicians with METRIC experience discuss how their practices handled different steps of the change model on which METRIC is modeled -- namely, a methodology for testing changes that is called the PDSA cycle, where

"P" stands for plan a change;
"D" means do put the plan into action and document the results;
"S" calls for a practice team to study the results after each test; and
"A" represents act, or calling on the practice to decide what action to take next.