What Influences Physicians' Decisions - Statistics or Stories?

NCT ID: NCT02048982

Last Updated: 2018-09-12

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

WITHDRAWN

Clinical Phase

NA

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2014-02-28

Study Completion Date

2015-12-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The purpose of this study is to test whether physicians change their use of non-recommended tests, procedures, or medications more in response to evidence based-guidelines, price information, or an individual patient's story.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

We will perform a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of information presented to physicians to test the hypothesis that an identifiable victim affects physician practice behavior more than a statistical victim.

Specifically, we will answer the following research questions: 1) do physicians order fewer non-recommended tests, procedures, or medications if they are told about a patient or a physician who had a bad outcome from that test, procedure, or medication than if they are simply told the guideline or the cost of the test, procedure or medication, 2) does the effect of learning about the identifiable victim last longer than the effect of learning about the guideline or the cost of a test, procedure, or medication, and 3) does the identifiable victim effect differ if the victim is a patient or a physician? We hypothesize that because of the propensity to respond more to the identifiable victim rather than the statistical victim that physicians will order fewer unnecessary tests when they are told about an individual patient case than if they are simply told about the guideline, that the effect of the identifiable victim will last longer than the effect of the statistical victim, and that a patient as the identifiable victim will have more effect than a physician as the identifiable victim.

The identifiable victim effect refers to the tendency to offer more aid to a specific, identifiable victim rather than a vaguely defined group of people with the same need. In the this study, the identifiable victim is a fictional patient who experience a negative consequence as a result of an unnecessary test. The identifiable victim effect is described and studied in the following articles:

Small D. Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 2007;102:143-53.

George Loewenstein, Deborah A. Small, and Jeff Strand. "Statistical, identifiable, and iconic victims" in Edward J. McCaffery, Joel Slemrod (2006). Behavioral public finance. Russell Sage Foundation; pp. 32-35.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Prescribing Tendencies

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Investigators

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Guideline and Cost

The Choosing Wisely guideline and the cost of the test at our institution: $60.35 for a basic metabolic panel.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Guideline

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive information on the Choosing Wisely Guideline

Cost

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive cost information.

Guideline

The Choosing Wisely guideline: "Don't perform blood chemistry panels in asymptomatic, healthy adults."

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Guideline

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive information on the Choosing Wisely Guideline

Guideline and Victim

The Choosing Wisely Guideline and a clinical scenario with a patient as an identifiable victim who suffered harm from having an unnecessary test done

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Guideline

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive information on the Choosing Wisely Guideline

Victim

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive information on an identifiable victim.

Guideline, Cost, and Victim

The Choosing Wisely guideline and a clinical scenario with a physician as an identifiable victim who suffered harm when he ordered an unnecessary test.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Guideline

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive information on the Choosing Wisely Guideline

Cost

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive cost information.

Victim

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Physicians will receive information on an identifiable victim.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Guideline

Physicians will receive information on the Choosing Wisely Guideline

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cost

Physicians will receive cost information.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Victim

Physicians will receive information on an identifiable victim.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Primary care physicians in the Weill Cornell Physicians Organization

Exclusion Criteria

* None
Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

Duke University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Weill Cornell Medical College

New York, New York, United States

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

Bishop_stats_stories

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.