“We found that, on average, the 228 clinical practices identified in our review were being used inappropriately 30% of the time.”- Dr. Janet SquiresA study led by Dr. Janet Squires identified 228 clinical practices in Canada that are used inappropriately, with underuse being more common than overuse. Published in CMAJ, the research can help health care professionals, organizations and governments improve patient care and health outcomes.
The researchers included 174 studies that evaluated whether clinical practices in Canada were meeting evidence-based guidelines. Together, these studies included 228 clinical practices and more than 28.9 million patients between 2007 and 2021.
The researchers found inappropriate care in 30% of cases. Certain diagnostics were underused, such as glycated hemoglobin tests, lipid panel blood tests and diabetic eye exams. The most frequently overused diagnostics were the blood test for thyroid stimulating hormone, chest X-rays and Pap tests. See CMAJ press release for more.
“We found that, on average, the 228 clinical practices identified in our review were being used inappropriately 30% of the time.”- Dr. Janet Squires, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa.
Authors: Janet E. Squires, Danielle Cho-Young, Laura D. Aloisio, Robert Bell, Stephen Bornstein, Susan E. Brien, Simon Decary, Melissa Demery Varin, Mark Dobrow, Carole A. Estabrooks, Ian D. Graham, Megan Greenough, Doris Grinspun, Michael Hillmer, Tanya Horsley, Jiale Hu, Alan Katz, Christina Krause, John Lavis, Wendy Levinson, Adrian Levy, Michelina Mancuso, Steve Morgan, Letitia Nadalin-Penno, Andrew Neuner, Tamara Rader, Wilmer J. Santos, Gary Teare, Joshua Tepper, Amanda Vandyk, Michael Wilson and Jeremy M. Grimshaw
Funding: This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. All research at The Ottawa Hospital is also enabled by generous donations to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa.
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