In the JAMA Forum, Diana Mason, President of the American Academy of Nursing, discusses the “Choosing Wisely” campaign and its efforts to get physicians and psychiatrists to be more prudent about prescribing unnecessary tests and medications. What are the best ways to strengthen this initiative, she asks.
“A May 2014 telephone survey of 600 primary care and specialist physicians, commissioned by the ABIM Foundation, found that 72% said that at least once a week, the average physician prescribes unnecessary tests or procedures; 47% said that patients request these services; and when the patient insists, even after a discussion of the low value of a test or procedure, 53% order it,” writes Mason.
Choosing Wisely: Changing Clinicians, Patients, or Policies? (JAMA Forum, December 3, 2014)
