Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34355347›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2022

Association Between Health System Factors and Utilization of Routine Laboratory Tests in Clinical Teaching Units: a Cohort Analysis.

Keith Tam, Tyler Williamson, Irene W Y Ma, Anshula Ambasta

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Keith TamCumming School of Medicine University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Tyler WilliamsonCumming School of Medicine University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Irene W Y MaCumming School of Medicine University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Anshula AmbastaCumming School of Medicine University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. aambasta@ucalgary.ca.ORCID 0000-0003-0211-8654

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFew studies have looked at health system factors associated with laboratory test use.

objectiveTo determine the association between health system factors and routine laboratory test use in medical inpatients.

designWe conducted a retrospective cohort study on adult patients admitted to clinical teaching units over a 3-year period (January 2015 to December 2017) at three tertiary care hospitals in Calgary, Alberta.

participantsPatients were assigned to a Case Mix Group+ (CMG+) category based on their clinical characteristics, and patients in the top 10 CMG+ groups were included in the cohort. EXPOSURES: The examined health system factors were (1) number of primary attending physicians seen by a patient, (2) number of attending medical teams seen by a patient, (3) structure of the medical team, and (4) day of the week. MAIN MEASURES: The primary outcome was the total number of routine laboratory tests ordered on a patient during their admission. Statistical models were adjusted for age, sex, length of stay, Charlson comorbidity index, and CMG+ group.

resultsThe final cohort consisting of 36,667 patient-days in hospital (mean (SD) age 62.5 (18.4) years) represented 5071 unique hospitalizations and 4324 unique patients. Routine laboratory test use was increased when patients saw multiple attending physicians; with an adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.46 (95% CI, 1.37-1.55) for two attending physicians, and 2.50 (95% CI, 2.23-2.79) for three or more attending physicians compared to a single attending physician. The number of routine laboratory tests was slightly lower on weekends (IRR 0.98, 95% CI, 0.96-0.99) and on teams without a senior resident as part of their team structure (IRR 0.89, 95% CI 0.830.96).

conclusionsThe associations observed in this study suggest that breaks in continuity of care, including increased frequency in patient transfer of care, may impact the utilization of routine laboratory tests.

Indexed as

HospitalizationMedical Staff, HospitalAdultCohort StudiesHospitalsHumansMiddle AgedRetrospective Studiesclinical teaching unitscontinuity of careinpatientslow value careroutine laboratory testing

Identifiers

PMID34355347
PMCPMC9085997

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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.