Improving Test Ordering in Primary Care

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 03 Dec 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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The Added Value of a Small-Group Quality Improvement Strategy Compared with Classic Feedback Only -

With the number of tests ordered by primary care physicians on the rise, Verstappen and colleagues find that small-group quality improvement meetings, which give physicians an opportunity to discuss their test ordering performance with colleagues on the basis of actual performance data, are effective at changing physician test-ordering behavior.

They conclude that the current practice of merely sending written feedback reports to physicians does not have a significant impact on test-ordering behavior.

They suggest that to be effective, feedback reports must be incorporated into a more ambitious continuous quality improvement program.

By Wim Verstappen, M.D., Ph.D.

November/December 2004 Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet
Contact: Angela Lower
alower@aafp.org
913-906-6253
Annals of Family Medicine

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