Do Clinicians Want Recommendations?

McMaster University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy Individuals (Clinicians)

Treatments: Other: Evidence summary alone; Other: Evidence summary alone plus a recommendation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02006017

13-480

Details and patient eligibility

About

The use of the best evidence available for decision-making is nowadays an undisputed goal in health care. However, this is not always achieved in the context of clinical practice. Two of the potential solutions to bridge the gap between evidence and the clinical practice are the "evidence summaries" and the "evidence based recommendations". However, it is not clear, and frequently controversial, to what extent clinicians consider helpful recommendations accompanying evidence summaries. The investigators will explore this question by conducting a study where clinicians will be randomized to receive a clinical scenario accompanied by an evidence summary plus a recommendation and a second clinical scenario accompanied by only for an evidence summary (group A) or vice versa (Group B). The outcome will be clinicians' preferences.

Enrollment: 467 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Were trained as Medical Doctors
• Practice primary care or general internal medicine.

Exclusion Criteria: none

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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467 participants in 2 patient groups

Group A

Experimental group

Description:

We will present to participants two general clinical scenarios. The first scenario will be accompanied by an evidence summary plus a recommendation and a second scenario will be accompanied by an evidence summary alone

Treatment:

Other: Evidence summary alone plus a recommendation

Other: Evidence summary alone

Group B

Experimental group

Description:

We will present to participants two general clinical scenarios. The first scenario will be accompanied by an evidence summary alone and a second scenario will be accompanied by an evidence summary plus a recommendation

Treatment:

Other: Evidence summary alone plus a recommendation

Other: Evidence summary alone