Structured education can improve primary-care management of headache: the first empirical evidence from a controlled interventional study

摘要

BackgroundHeadache disorders are under-recognized and under-diagnosed. A principal factor in their suboptimal management is lack of headache-related training among health-care providers, especially in primary care. In Estonia, general practitioners (GPs) refer many headache patients to neurological specialist services, mostly unnecessarily. GPs request “diagnostic” investigations, which are usually unhelpful and therefore wasteful. GP-made headache diagnoses are often arcane and non-specific, and treatments based on these are inappropriate.The aim of this study was to develop, implement and test an educational model intended to improve headache-related primary health care in Estonia.