The influence of time pressure on adherence to guidelines in primary care: an experimental study.
other · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23585394.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002700 and PMC identifier 3641486.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Evidence from cognitive sciences has systematically shown that time pressure influences decision-making processes. However, very few studies have examined the role of time pressure on adherence to guidelines in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of time pressure on adherence to guidelines in primary care concerning: history taking, clinical examination and advice giving. A within-subjects experimental design was used. Academic. 34 general practitioners (GPs) were assigned to two experimental conditions (time pressure vs no time pressure) consecutively, and presented with two scenarios involving virus respiratory tract infections. Outcome measures included adherence to guidelines on history taking, clinical examination and advice giving. Under time pressure, GPs asked significantly less questions concerning presenting symptoms, than the ones indicated by the guidelines, (p=0.019), conducted a less-thorough clinical examination (p=0.028), while they gave less advice on lifestyle (p=0.05). As time pressure increases as a result of high workload, there is a need to examine how adherence to guidelines is affected to safeguard patient's safety.