Nudging Emergency Department Clinicians to Reduce Unnecessary Diagnostic Test Ordering: A Multi-Arm Vignette-Based...

Diagnostic testing is overused in emergency departments, and clinical decision support may reduce unnecessary ordering. We examined the effects of nudge-based clinical decision support interventions on test ordering among emergency department clinicians.

This triple-blind four-arm parallel (1:1:1:1) individually randomised vignette-based experiment included 243 clinicians (male: 54%) from eight emergency departments. Clinicians were presented with a case study (81-year-old woman, simple syncopal event, no injury) and randomised to Nudge #1 (large range of tests and free text), Nudge #2 (Nudge #1 with inline evidence-based advice), Nudge #3 (limited range of tests and free text), or control (free text only). The primary outcome was between-group differences in total tests ordered. Secondary outcomes excluded the most common tests (full blood examination and urea/electrolytes) and were stratified by clinical experience (< 10 or ≥ 10 years).

There were no differences in total tests ordered compared to control for Nudge #1 (incident-rate ratio [95% CI]: 1.05 [0.83, 1.32], p = 0.691), Nudge #2 (0.85 [0.67, 1.08], p = 0.189), or Nudge #3 (0.90 [0.71, 1.14], p = 0.378). When FBE and U&E were excluded, total tests ordered compared to control were lower for Nudge #2 (0.58 [0.39, 0.86], p = 0.007), and Nudge #3 (0.50 [0.33, 0.76], p = 0.001). Secondary analyses revealed effects for clinicians with < 10 years of experience only.

While potentially of limited value for reducing the total number of tests ordered, nudge-based clinical decision support interventions that manipulate decision structure and employ decision assistance may reduce tests other than FBE and U&E in emergency departments, especially among less experienced clinicians.