Modification of decision-making behavior of third-year medical students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Economics
• Clinical Decision-Making

Background:

• Physician behavior significantly impacts healthcare expenditures.
• There is a need for educational strategies to control rising healthcare costs.
• Integrating cost-awareness into medical training is a potential solution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an educational program for third-year medical students focused on healthcare expenditures.
• To assess the effectiveness of this program on students' diagnostic and management decision-making.
• To measure the impact on the utilization and cost of diagnostic procedures.

Main Methods:

• Divided third-year medical students into experimental and control groups.
• Experimental group received education on appropriate use and costs of diagnostic procedures.
• Both groups were presented with case studies for diagnosis and management.
• Evaluated diagnostic accuracy, management decisions, and choice of essential procedures.

Main Results:

• Experimental group showed significantly better performance in diagnosis, patient management, and selection of diagnostic procedures.
• Average charges generated by the experimental group were 50% lower than the control group.
• The educational intervention led to more cost-effective clinical decision-making.

Conclusions:

• Educational intervention effectively improved medical students' clinical decision-making and cost-consciousness.
• This approach holds potential for modifying physician behavior to control healthcare spending.
• Further research is needed to confirm long-term practice behavior changes and standardize the methodology.