| Sumario: | Introduction Primary care commissioning means that increasing numbers of patients will be treated in the community by primary care teams. Clinicians working in these teams will need to learn how to treat patients with a range of conditions that previously they would have referred to hospital. Online learning is one way in which clinicians can learn new knowledge and problem-solving skills in today's changing healthcare environment. BMJ Learning is an online learning website for health professionals. It produces interactive learning resources to enable health professionals to update their knowledge and skills. One of its main target audience is primary care professionals-both general practitioners (GPs) and primary care nurses. These users have consistently requested learning resources in rheumatology to better care for such patients in the community. To help meet these learners' needs, BMJ Learning produced a series of learning modules in rheumatology. Methods BMJ Learning produced a series of eight modules on common rheumatology problems in primary care. These included rheumatoid arthritis, postmenopausal osteoporosis, managing chronic pain, giant cell arteritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, gout, limp and skiing injuries. All the modules passed through the robust editorial processes at BMJ Learning. All the modules were interactive case histories-these involved a pretest, a number of interactive cases and a post-test. Results A total of 2109 users completed these modules. Doing the modules enabled users to increase their knowledge and skills relating to caring for patients with rheumatological conditions. Doing the modules enabled users to improve their score from the pretest to the post-test by a statistically significant amount (P < 0.001). Feedback to the modules was positive-users commented that the modules were useful and concise and clear. Many users commented that they enjoyed the interactive format. Many stated that they would alter their practice as a result of doing the module. Discussion We feel that the results show that these online learning modules are effective at helping primary care professionals learn about rheumatology problems and to better care for these patients in the community.
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