ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2016
Test ordering by GP trainees: Effects of an educational intervention on attitudes and intended practice.
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fungal diagnostic stewardship in immunocompromised populations: a focus on molds and dimorphic fungi.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- The Hidden Influences: Psychological Drivers of Medical Practice Variation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Educational and research utility of the registrar clinical encounters in training (ReCEnT) project: an exploration of mechanisms using the context, input, process and product (CIPP) framework.Family medicine and community health · 2025Article
- CHIME-GP trial of online education for prescribing, pathology and imaging ordering in general practice - how did it bring about behaviour change?BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Incidence and Risk Factors for Inappropriate Use of Non-Culture-Based Fungal Assays: Implication for Diagnostic Stewardship.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Article
- Laboratory Demand Management Strategies-An Overview.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Why clinicians overtest: development of a thematic framework.BMC health services research · 2020Review
- Determinants of Medical Practice Variation Among Primary Care Physicians: Protocol for a Three Phase Study.JMIR research protocols · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention on test-ordering attitudes and intended practice of GP trainees, and any associations between changes in test ordering and trainee characteristics.
designPreworkshop and postworkshop survey of attitudes to test ordering, intended test-ordering practices for 3 clinical scenarios (fatigue, screening, and shoulder pain), and tolerance for uncertainty.
settingThree Australian regional general practice training providers.
participantsGeneral practice trainees (N = 167).
interventionA 2-hour workshop session and an online module.
main outcome measuresProportion of trainees who agreed with attitudinal statements before and after the workshop; proportion of trainees who would order tests, mean number of tests ordered, and number of appropriate and inappropriate tests ordered for each scenario before and after the workshop.
resultsOf 167 trainees, 132 (79.0%) completed both the preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires. A total of 122 trainees attended the workshop. At baseline, 88.6% thought that tests can harm patients, 84.8% believed overtesting was a problem, 72.0% felt pressured by patients, 52.3% believed that tests would reassure patients, and 50.8% thought that they were less likely to be sued if they ordered tests. There were desirable changes in all attitudes after the workshop. Before the workshop, the mean number of tests that trainees would have ordered was 4.4, 4.8, and 1.5 for the fatigue, screening, and shoulder pain scenarios, respectively. After the workshop there were decreases in the mean number of both appropriate tests (decrease of 0.94) and inappropriate tests (decrease of 0.24) in the fatigue scenario; there was no change in the mean number of appropriate tests and a decrease in inappropriate tests (decrease of 0.76) in the screening scenario; and there was an increase in the proportion of trainees who would appropriately not order tests in the shoulder pain scenario. There were no significant associations between changes in test ordering and trainee demographic characteristics or tolerance for uncertainty subscale scores.
conclusionGeneral practice trainees have conflicting attitudes to test ordering and demonstrate nonrational test ordering in 3 common scenarios. A workshop on rational test ordering led to desirable changes in attitudes and more rational intended test ordering. Our findings inform the development of appropriate educational interventions that address nonrational testing in family medicine.
Indexed as
Identifiers
27629671PMC5023346What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.