GPs and randomisation
COPD
COPD, DISEASE, CHRONIC DISEASES
GPs in Brittany, France, in private or group practices, were solicited for this study by the Department of General Practice, University of Rennes. Initially, GPs knew that the study concerned early detection of chronic diseases, but not specifically COPD; this was done to maintain blinding for GPs and patients in the control group. GPs were cluster randomised to avoid contamination bias: a GP corresponded to a cluster and GPs from the same practice were assigned to the same cluster. Software was used to automatically randomise the GP clusters to one of four study groups: control, GOLD questions, COPD coordination, and GOLD questions with COPD coordination groups.In the control group (standard care), GPs received no information about disease and study interventions, and patient eligibility was retrospectively reviewed by a clinical research associate using medical records. The GPs in the three intervention groups were trained independently according to their specific study group. Among the 350 GPs from the network of the Department of General Practice, University of Rennes, 47 GPs from 45 practices participated: 12 GPs were allocated to the control group, 12 to the GOLD question group, 12 to the COPD coordination group, and 11 to the GOLD questions and COPD coordination group.