Celebrating the successful formal launch of the BMJ Group Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Training Initiative in Georgia

June 2024,Tbilisi, Georgia—On 13 June, 2024, BMJ Group formally launched  the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Training Initiative in Georgia, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Health, Labour and Social Affairs of Georgia. The event marked a pivotal moment in enhancing the healthcare system in Georgia by providing healthcare professionals with crucial tools and resources.

Insights on the Georgia healthcare sector were presented by First Deputy Minister, Dr Tamar Gabunia. She discussed Georgia’s healthcare system and highlighted the country’s efforts to provide high-quality healthcare and strengthen the capacity of healthcare workers.

BMJ Group’s involvement in this project will help to successfully build capacity and capabilities, empower healthcare professionals, and strengthen healthcare systems. The initiative, which commenced in February 2024, and will continue until 7 August 2025, builds on the success of the initial five years of the programme. The focus is on increasing impact, addressing new healthcare priorities, and working towards long-term sustainability.

The training initiative brings together the best available tools and resources available for health professionals. These include BMJ Best Practice, a clinical decision support tool that offers step-by-step guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, and BMJ Learning, an e-learning platform featuring over 600 peer-reviewed modules across 70 specialties. It will support healthcare priorities in Georgia and empower healthcare professionals by ensuring they have access to the latest medical knowledge and resources. The launch event successfully raised awareness and encouraged the use of these valuable resources among key stakeholders.

Beyond offering access to BMJ Best Practice and BMJ Learning, the initiative will:

  • Sustain a dedicated landing page featuring links to BMJ Best Practice and BMJ Learning, alongside supplementary information for healthcare professionals
  • Maintain and update the current Georgian versions of 165 BMJ Best Practice topics and 76 BMJ Learning modules
  • Translate an additional 50 BMJ Best Practice topics and 24 BMJ Learning modules into Georgian
  • Conduct two webinars focused on climate change and health
  • Organise a course dedicated to climate change and health
  • Support the creation of 3-5 research papers on healthcare in Georgia

Partnership and long-term sustainment
The programme is supported by the Government of Georgia, with technical assistance from ADB. BMJ Group, along with its partners, continue to seek additional funding sources to ensure the initiative’s long-term continuation and success beyond the initial 18 months.

To learn more about this training initiative or partnerships with BMJ Group, contact Dr Ashley McKimm (amckimm@bmj.com)

About BMJ Group’s convening capabilities

BMJ Group has delivered healthcare events for over 25 years. We manage over 75 meetings and webinars each year attracting over 100,000+ participants from 80+ different countries. We have particular expertise in managing expert advisory committees, programme and content design, and we are renowned for combining expert and evidence-based content with an interactive and innovative format. We can confidently deliver live workshops, masterclasses and roundtables through all platforms, making virtual workshops particularly engaging by using interactive tools such as live polls, virtual post-it notes and breakout rooms. 

BMJ Group is also able to organise closed meetings to provide online training or other capacity-building activities or to bring together the advisory committee. Webinars can be organised for larger-scale audiences to share learnings from the Learning Hubs.

Success story

Taking care of a village: How BMJ Group’s resources are supporting a village doctor in Georgia

Dr Tea Sakhokia is a dedicated family doctor working in the Meore Nosiri village, Senaki district, Georgia. After completing her medical degree, she returned to her home village to serve as the only doctor, providing care to a community of elderly people and young children.

In her daily practice, Dr Sakhokia faces numerous challenges, from cleaning and prepping her clinic each morning to seeing patients both in-person and virtually. She often deals with late-night emergency visits and hosts immunisation days and health awareness programmes, all while managing her family responsibilities as a mother of two children.

BMJ Best Practice and BMJ Learning have become invaluable tools for Dr Sakhokia, offering her reliable, up-to-date medical information and educational resources that streamline her practice.

Using these resources, Dr Sakhokia saves time and ensures she provides the best care possible. She appreciates the convenience of the mobile app and the ability to access constantly updated information. These resources help her in diagnosing conditions, planning treatment strategies, and building trust with her patients by showing them evidence-based information.

“BMJ Best Practice and BMJ Learning cover almost all conditions I see regularly in my clinic. Before using these resources, I was using national protocols on the Ministry of Health website, which took up a lot of time. BMJ Group’s resources save me time and I like that I have access to it on an app. The resources are convenient, and I can start and pause BMJ Learning modules when I have time. I also like that BMJ Best Practice is constantly being updated and I can rely on it to have the most updated information.

There are a lot of resources out there, but BMJ Best Practice gives you exactly what you need when you need it.

I check the differential section to see if there are any conditions I am missing. I check the diagnostic criteria to check if the diagnosis can be made for the patient’s presenting symptoms. Finally, I check the treatment approach when planning the management strategy.

Most importantly, I use BMJ Best Practice to build trust with the patient.

I show them that the information is evidence-based and that expert opinion is being brought directly to the bedside. It helps the patient feel like they are making the decision with the doctor – which helps with treatment compliance.”

Patient case

Dr. Sakhokia had seen a young child with recurrent tonsillitis who needed surgery. The mother of the child was hesitant, preferring home treatment over surgery. Dr Sakhokia quickly referenced the BMJ Learning module on this condition and showed the mother the potential complications of avoiding surgery. This information helped the mother rethink her decision and accept the referral for hospital treatment.

This success story illustrates the profound impact of BMJ Group’s resources on healthcare providers working in remote and underserved areas. With BMJ Best Practice and BMJ Learning, Dr Sakhokia can deliver high-quality, evidence-based care to her community, improving health outcomes and building stronger patient relationships.