Background:
In the context of this quality promotion initiative, physical therapists are participating in local peer groups (LOKK’s).
Information is disseminated through experts, exchange of experience amongst colleagues (peer review) and discussions on how to best apply these guidelines in the clinical practice.

Objectives:
Improve the perception, knowledge and skills for applying the guidelines in the clinical practice.

Methods:
Physical therapists sign up for a local quality promotion group, who organizes the peer review sessions. Participants take a survey about their competencies related to the topics that will be discussed during the sessions. After the discussions, an evaluation is completed and at the end of the two months period the physical therapist reviews the initial questionnaire again. The results are captured in a database.
Local quality promotion groups of 12-40 physical therapists receive details on certain aspects of a guideline or EBM information during a half hour session. Afterwards, there are smaller group conversations among practitioners based on the survey administered before the activity. Participants share their experience, expertise and questions about a specific guideline. At the end of the session, participants summarize the discussion and receive a set of action items to try out in their practice.

Results:
A macro analysis of the pre- and post-survey data indicated an increase in competency level, both in terms of knowledge, skill and attitude towards the guidelines.

Conclusions:
The methodology that we deployed has shown to contribute to the dissemination and implementation of new guidelines and EBM information.

Reference: The dissemination of EBM and guidelines is part of the quality improvement program for physiotherapists in Belgium, as developed by Pro-Q-Kine vzw, Imperiastraat 16a, 1930 Zaventem, Belgium.