2 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The utilization of transthoracic echocardiography in the United States has been increasing. This has resulted in increased costs to the healthcare system. In an effort to curb excessive utilization of this technology, the American College of Cardiology created Appropriate Use Criteria to help guide clinicians to use this diagnostic imaging modality more appropriately. The investigators previously showed that an educational intervention can reduce the rate of inappropriate echocardiograms ordered by physicians-in-training. It is unknown if such an intervention would be successful in attending, staff level of physicians. The investigators hypothesize that an educational and feedback intervention will reduce the rate of inappropriate outpatient transthoracic echocardiograms ordered by staff cardiologists and internal medicine physicians.
It is well documented that the proportion of inappropriate transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) is highest in the ambulatory environment, where it has been reported as high as 30%. Therefore, the potential to improve TTE utilization may be greatest in the outpatient setting. However, no study to date has evaluated whether an Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC)-based educational intervention can reduce inappropriate TTEs in this setting. The investigators therefore designed the first randomized control trial of an AUC-based educational and feedback intervention aimed at reducing inappropriate outpatient TTEs ordered by cardiology and internal medicine physicians in training.