• Yi-Syun Huang, Wei-Ting Tseng, Charng-Yen Chiang, E-Wai Zhang, Chien-Hung Wu, and Fu-Jen Cheng.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, No. 123, Dapi Rd., Niaosong Township, Kaohsiung County 833, Taiwan. Electronic address: neuhaus@cgmh.org.tw.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2019 Apr 1; 37 (4): 710-714.

BackgroundIt is challenging for emergency physicians (EPs) to distinguish between patients with life-threatening and benign headaches. We examined the effect of peer influence on computed tomography use by EPs for patients with headache and evaluated the peer influence effect in EPs with different levels of risk tolerance.MethodsWe conducted a before- and after-retrospective case review, and administered the Risk-Taking subscale of the Jackson Personality Index to attending physicians. Each EP computed tomography (CT) use rate, patient number, and CT use, were e-mailed every two months to enhance EP team norm and establish a trend in behavior.ResultsOf the 665 (before intervention) and 669 (after intervention) patients with headache, 206 (31%) and 171 (25.6%) underwent brain CT scans, respectively. Decreased use of CT examination was found in the post-intervention group (OR = 0.758, 95% CI: 0.593-0.967), especially for most risk-tolerant physicians (OR = 0.530, 95% CI: 0.311-0.889). There was prolonged ED length of stay (LOS) in the pre-intervention group (OR = 51.52, 95% CI: 26.998-76.050).ConclusionsWe observed that peer influence is an effective way to improve CT use rate and emergency department LOS for patients with isolated headache, especially for most risk-tolerant physicians. These findings could enhance the development of appropriate guidelines to assist ED physicians' CT use.Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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