None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study is investigating whether providing different types of information about the costs of a diagnostic test influences ICU nurses’ test-ordering behaviour. You are eligible for this study if you are a registered nurse and have worked in an adult or paediatric ICU in Australia or New Zealand in the previous 24 months. Taking part in this study will involve reading some information about the costs associated with diagnostic testing and a hypothetical scenario describing a patient commonly seen in ICUs. You will then be asked to complete an online questionnaire about which tests you would request for the patient in the scenario and provide some background information about yourself. The findings of this study will inform future projects aiming to improve appropriate testing in the ICU.
Interventions
In this study, two interventions are being evaluated: type of cost information (two levels, financial vs environmental) and way of presenting the cost information (two levels, all nurses in the unit (collective action) vs individual nurse (no collective action)). Participants will be randomised 1:1:1:1:1 to receive one of five hypothetical scenarios that contain these different types of information about the costs associated with diagnostic tests in the ICU.
The different types of information
In this study, two interventions are being evaluated: type of cost information (two levels, financial vs environmental) and way of presenting the cost information (two levels, all nurses in the unit (collective action) vs individual nurse (no collective action)). Participants will be randomised 1:1:1:1:1 to receive one of five hypothetical scenarios that contain these different types of information about the costs associated with diagnostic tests in the ICU. The different types of information presented across the five groups are: 1. financial costs incurred by an individual nurse 2. financial costs incurred by all nurses in the unit (collective action) 3. environmental costs incurred by an individual nurse 4. environmental costs incurred by all nurses in the unit (collective action) 5. no cost information (control group) Financial costs are presented as either the indicative dollar amount that would be saved if an individual nurse performed one less arterial blood gas on each of their shifts for one month (no collective action) or the indicative dollar amount that would be saved if all nurses working in the ICU performed one less arterial blood gas on each of their shifts for one year (collective action). Environmental costs are presented as either the indicative amount of carbon emissions that would be saved if an individual nurse performed one less arterial blood gas on each of their shifts for one month (no collective action) or the indicative amount of carbon emissions that would be saved if all nurses working in the ICU performed one less arterial blood gas on each of their shifts for one year (collective action). Participants will then be presented with the same hypothetical clinical scenario describing a patient in the ICU and asked which tests (if any) they would order for that patient. All information is provided as text via the survey platform REDCap and participants can access the survey on any device connected to the internet. Reading the study information and scenario and responding to the online questionnaire will take approximately 10 minutes.
Sponsors
The University of Sydney
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
To be included in the trial participants must be: 1. a registered nurse 2. have worked in an adult or paediatric ICU in Australia or New Zealand in the previous 24 months
Exclusion criteria
Nil
Outcome results
None listed