[Do physicians know the cost of the treatments and tests they prescribe?]

To determine the degree of knowledge among physicians regarding the cost of diagnostic tests and commonly used drugs.

An interview was obtained with a representative sample of 164 physicians from a total of 338 (accuracy +/- 3.55), distributed in interns/residents (n:119) and staff members (n:45) from the divisions of Surgery (n:81) and Medicine (n:83) at Hospital Clinic i Provincial, Barcelona. The questionnaire included 15 questions, 10 regarding drugs and 5 diagnostic tests, with 5 possible answers. An arbitrary scoring system was used (correct answer: 5 points; approximate; 3 points; mistake: 1 point) and the percentage of right answers (correct and approximate answers) was also evaluated versus mistakes. The Student "t" test, the analysis of variance and the chi 2 test were used to compare the results.

The overall score reached was 2.72 +/- 0.41. Differences between residents vs staff and medicine vs surgery were not significant. The score in questions regarding diagnostic tests was significantly higher than that obtained for drug cost among all group. The percentages of right answers (correct and approximate answers) were 58.8%-61.7% (drugs) and 58.3-60.8% (tests), with no differences among groups. Differences regarding year of residence were also not significant.

The knowledge degree on costs of some drugs and diagnostic tests among physicians is deficient. It is necessary to find standards that contribute to increase the level of information regarding costs derived from the health care delivery process among health care professionals.