A survey of clinicians' opinions regarding the value of published decision analyses as sources of clinically useful information.

Abstract

Published decision analyses avoid many of the practical problems thought to be contributing to the slow acceptance of clinical decision analysis. To assess clinicians' opinions regarding the usefulness of published decision analyses, 46 physicians at a large community teaching hospital judged how useful 13 proposed interventions would be in helping them make better clinical decisions. Although 48% of the respondents indicated that they clearly understood decision analysis, easy access to a published decision analysis was the lowest-ranked intervention, with 28% of the respondents indicating that it would be helpful. In contrast, 87% indicated that easy access to the latest review article, the highest-rated intervention, would be helpful. This finding suggests that the proposed practical barriers to the acceptance of clinical decision analysis are relatively unimportant. The success of efforts to foster clinical decision analysis will depend on the identification of the key factors impeding its acceptance by clinicians and the development of effective techniques to overcome them.