Does knowledge acquisition transform clinical practice? Continuing medical education designed for knowledge improvement can significantly alter diagnoses and care maintenance across specialties: A randomized study of statistical inference

Background: Accredited continuing medical education contributes to the acceleration of scientific information into practice. Additional evidence confirming an ongoing debate that knowledge-based education directly results in practice change, apart from education designed specifically for Quality Improvement, would however complement the current inventory of literature related to the impact of continuing education. This study therefore examined if reinforcing multiple knowledge-building continuing medical education activities lead to or correlates with clinical confidence and rates of practice change. Methods From March 17, 2022, to May 11, 2022, a randomized sample of U.S. healthcare professionals (N = 500), including but not limited to physicians, nurses, and pharmacists working across specialties and practices, provided their perspectives on accredited educational activities they completed within the previous six months. Participants then matched their practice notes to recommendations made within the education. Results 75.3% documented enhanced personalized and proper diagnoses, enhanced diagnostic test orders, and alternative care plan implementation. A Z-test compared this average to that of previous research (33%). A directional hypothesis test with 0.5 alpha level of significance led to hypothesis acceptance with 95% confidence. Additional Pearson correlation testing indicated a positive relationship between education and diagnostic test orders, proactive adverse event management, and personalized care plan changes (r = 0.55, 0.64, and 0.66, respectively), with positive linear regression (r 2  = 0.30, 0.41, and 0.44, respectively). When clustered by practice setting and time in practice, there were no statistical differences in the results. Conclusions Accredited continuing education, designed for knowledge-acquisition, can lead to practice change across clinical specialties and practices, irrespective of a clinician’s time in practice. This research is meant to generate hypotheses and continued discourse within the clinical and educational communities.