Impact of a Musculoskeletal "Mini-Residency" Professional Development Program on Knee Magnetic Resonance Imaging Orders by Primary Care Providers

Background The US Department of Veterans Affairs has created a portfolio of educational programs to train primary care providers (PCPs) in the evaluation and management of common musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Appropriate resource utilization for evaluation of knee pain, including limiting unnecessary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, is an important theme of these initiatives. The objective of this study was to report the utilization of knee MRI by PCP providers before and after the MSK education program and to determine the appropriateness of these MRI orders. Methods Twenty-six PCPs participated in the MSK Mini-Residency educational program held in Salt Lake City between April 2012 and October 2014. Knee MRI orders submitted by these providers 12 months before and 12 months after their participation were reviewed. Magnetic resonance imaging orders were categorized as "inappropriate," "probably inappropriate," or "possibly appropriate," based on accepted guidelines for knee MRI utilization. Differences in the numbers of precourse and postcourse MRI orders for each of these categories were compared using Student t test. Results Following our program, MRI orders decreased from 130 (precourse) to 93 (postcourse), a reduction of 28% (p = 0.04). This reduction was observed entirely within the "inappropriate" and "probably inappropriate" categories; the number of orders categorized as "possibly appropriate" increased, but not significantly. Conclusions The MSK Mini-Residency training program was a successful educational intervention and was associated with a reduction in inappropriate knee MRI utilization for some participants, while keeping appropriate MRI utilization stable.