Perceived difficulty and appropriateness of decision making by General Practitioners: a systematic review of scenario studies

Table 1 Associations between decision appropriateness and decision type and appropriateness assessment standard

		No. (%) appropriate decisions	No. (%) inappropriate decisions	Total
Decision type*** ^a
Screening or testing		9133 (81%)	2175 (19%)	11308
Diagnosis		5000 (73%)	1856 (27%)	6856
Treatment or management		19950 (55%)	15991 (45%)	35941
Total		34083 (62%)	20022 (38%)	54105^b
Decision type sub-group*** ^a
Screening or testing	Test ordering	9081 (81%)	2105 (19%)	11186
Screening or testing	Examination^c	52 (43%)	70 (57%)	122
Treatment or management	Prescribing	8000 (60%)	5217 (40%)	13217
	Giving advice	4008 (47%)	4469 (53%)	8477
	Referral	5748 (54%)	4795 (46%)	10543
	Follow-up^c	105 (43%)	138 (57%)	243
	Appointment-scheduling^c	11 (52%)	10 (48%)	21
	Treatment other than prescribing^c	31 (7%)	388 (93%)	419
Total		27036 (61%)	17192 (39%)	44228^d
Method used for decision appropriateness assessment***
Guidelines		13284 (55%)	10716 (45%)	24000
Expert panel		15956 (68%)	7432 (32%)	23388
Literature		2653 (71%)	1080 (29%)	3733
Actual diagnosis		48 (23%)	161 (77%)	209
Combination		2339 (56%)	1821 (44%)	4160
Total		34280 (62%)	21210 (38%)	55490^e

Note: ***p < .001.
^aStudies included in multiple categories if multiple decisions of different types made.
^b4561 decisions from four studies excluded as either a) they could not be clearly classified into one category; b) there was insufficient information regarding either the decisions made or the response options given to allow for classification into a category.
^cCategory represents one study.
^dThe 6856 diagnostic decisions were not sub-categorised; 7582 decisions from eight studies excluded due to reasons a) and b) noted above.
^e3176 decisions from four studies excluded because the standard used was not specified.

ISSN: 1472-6963