TY - JOUR
T1 - Variability of physicians' thresholds for neuroimaging in children with recurrent headache
AU - Daymont, Carrie
AU - McDonald, Patrick J.
AU - Wittmeier, Kristy
AU - Reed, Martin H.
AU - Moffatt, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Fran Booth and Dr. Ruth Grimes for their assistance with recruiting physicians. We are very grateful to all of the physicians who took the time to respond to the survey. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Manitoba Health Research Council and the Manitoba Institute of Child Health, which paid for Dr. Daymont’s research time. The funders had no involvement or input into the study design, implementation, analysis, or decision to submit for publication. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
PY - 2014/6/23
Y1 - 2014/6/23
N2 - Background: We sought to determine the extent to which physicians agree about the appropriate decision threshold for recommending magnetic resonance imaging in a clinical practice guideline for children with recurrent headache.Methods: We surveyed attending physicians in Canada practicing in community pediatrics, child neurology, pediatric radiology, and pediatric neurosurgery. For children in each of six risk categories, physicians were asked to determine whether they would recommend for or against routine magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in a clinical practice guideline for children with recurrent headache.Results: Completed surveys were returned by 114 physicians. The proportion recommending routine neuroimaging for each risk group was 100% (50% risk), 99% (10% risk), 93% (4% risk), 54% (1% risk), 25% (0.4% risk), 4% (0.01% risk). Community pediatricians, physicians in practice >15 years, and physicians who believed they ordered neuroimaging less often than peers were less likely to recommend neuroimaging for the 1% risk group (all p < 0.05).Conclusions: There is no consensus among pediatric specialists regarding the appropriate decision threshold for neuroimaging in a clinical practice guideline for children with recurrent headache. Because of the impact that individual threshold preferences may have on guidelines, these findings support the need for careful composition of guideline committees and consideration of the role of patient and family preferences. Our findings also support the need for transparency in guidelines regarding how evidence was translated into recommendations and how conflicts were resolved.
AB - Background: We sought to determine the extent to which physicians agree about the appropriate decision threshold for recommending magnetic resonance imaging in a clinical practice guideline for children with recurrent headache.Methods: We surveyed attending physicians in Canada practicing in community pediatrics, child neurology, pediatric radiology, and pediatric neurosurgery. For children in each of six risk categories, physicians were asked to determine whether they would recommend for or against routine magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in a clinical practice guideline for children with recurrent headache.Results: Completed surveys were returned by 114 physicians. The proportion recommending routine neuroimaging for each risk group was 100% (50% risk), 99% (10% risk), 93% (4% risk), 54% (1% risk), 25% (0.4% risk), 4% (0.01% risk). Community pediatricians, physicians in practice >15 years, and physicians who believed they ordered neuroimaging less often than peers were less likely to recommend neuroimaging for the 1% risk group (all p < 0.05).Conclusions: There is no consensus among pediatric specialists regarding the appropriate decision threshold for neuroimaging in a clinical practice guideline for children with recurrent headache. Because of the impact that individual threshold preferences may have on guidelines, these findings support the need for careful composition of guideline committees and consideration of the role of patient and family preferences. Our findings also support the need for transparency in guidelines regarding how evidence was translated into recommendations and how conflicts were resolved.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902749727&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84902749727&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1471-2431-14-162
DO - 10.1186/1471-2431-14-162
M3 - Article
C2 - 24957861
AN - SCOPUS:84902749727
SN - 1471-2431
VL - 14
JO - BMC Pediatrics
JF - BMC Pediatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 162
ER -