• Br J Gen Pract · Jul 2023

    Cancer risk algorithms in primary care: can they impact risk estimates and referral decisions?

    • Kavleen Arora, Olga Kostopoulou, and Bence Palfi.
    • Imperial College London.
    • Br J Gen Pract. 2023 Jul 1; 73 (suppl 1).

    BackgroundCancer risk algorithms were introduced to clinical practice in the last decade, but they remain underused.AimIn two randomised controlled experiments, we tested the impact of an unnamed cancer risk algorithm (QCancer) on GPs' risk assessment and 2-week-wait referral decisions. We also tested the impact of algorithm information, 'social proof', and a visual explanation.MethodWe presented two different samples of GPs (total n=372) with vignettes depicting patients with possible colorectal (Experiment 1) or upper GI (Experiment 2) cancers and measured their risk estimates and inclination to refer both before and after seeing the algorithmic estimate. In Experiment 1, half of the participants read information about the algorithm. In Experiment 2, half of the participants read how Experiment 1 participants had found the algorithm useful ('social proof'). Half of the participants also saw an explanatory bar graph representing the relative contribution of symptoms to the risk estimate.ResultsBoth experiments provided consistent results: after seeing the algorithm, GPs' inclination to refer changed on 26% of instances. 'Social proof' enhanced the algorithm's impact on both risk estimates and referrals. Neither information about the algorithm nor the explanatory graph impacted behaviour. In both experiments, learning took place, as GPs' initial risk estimates moved closer to QCancer over time.ConclusionCancer risk algorithms have the potential to impact risk assessment and decision making and may have a role as learning tools. Informing clinicians about their proven usefulness to colleagues may maximise impact.© British Journal of General Practice 2023.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.