Unnecessary variation cloaked as discretion in medical decisions

Implementation of a Novel Conference Series on Clinical Practice Variations Provides an Opportunity for Constructive Discussion of Faculty Practice Patterns: Do as We Say? … or Do as We Do?

“…Variations in clinical practice continue to be common in many real‐world clinical settings, and the practical limitations of EBM have been widely noted, even by some of its most prominent proponents . Our residents reported that they found the educational sessions devoted to CPV helpful in understanding why variations in practice may occur.…”

“…Although much of the clinical medicine that is taught today in GME is “evidence‐based,” there is considerable individual variation in clinical practice, even among physicians practicing in the same hospital or training program . Variations in clinical practice are frequently cited in the medical literature, but almost always as a problem to be corrected in order to optimize care across geographic and demographic boundaries . However, clinical practice variations (CPVs) seen in emergency medicine (EM) practice can be exploited for their educational value for trainees.…”