Are nonspecific practice guidelines potentially harmful? A randomized comparison of the effect of nonspecific versus specific guidelines on physician decision making.

Objective: To test the ability of two different clinical practice guideline formats to influence physician ordering of electrodiagnostic tests in low back pain.

Data Sources/study Design: Randomized controlled trial of the effect of practice guidelines on self-reported physician test ordering behavior in response to a series of 12 clinical vignettes. Data came from a national random sample of 900 U.

Is the quality of diabetes care better in a diabetes clinic or in a general medicine clinic?

Objective: To compare the quality of ambulatory diabetes care delivered by physicians in the diabetes clinic versus the general medicine clinic of a university-affiliated Veterans Administration medical center.

Research Design And Methods: This is a retrospective study that involved the review of medical records against predetermined process-of-care criteria. A total of 112 patients with diabetes were randomly selected, of whom 56 were cared for in the general medicine clinic and 56 in the diabetes clinic.

Comparison of screening tests for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Background: Screening for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) can be useful in clinical practice and in epidemiologic and genetic studies, but the available information for choosing between screening methods is limited. In this study, characteristics of several screening tests for NIDDM were compared.

Methods: Among Pima Indians participating in an epidemiologic study, the sensitivity and specificity for detecting NIDDM of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels and two measures of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1 or HbA1c) were compared in 2092 fasting subjects.