Table 1.
Visit, Clinician, and Patient Characteristics across Sixteen Practices over the Study Period
| Overall (16 Practices)(n = 41,391),% | Clinical Decision Support + Feedback Group (8 Practices)(n = 22,256), % | Clinical Decision Support Only Group (8 Practices)(n = 19,135), % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visit characteristics | |||
| Visit type | |||
| Sick | 38,585 (93.2) | 20,670 (92.9) | 17,915 (93.6) |
| Well | 2,806 (6.8) | 1,586 (7.1) | 1,220 (6.4) |
| Otitis media diagnosis | |||
| Acute otitis media (AOM) | 27,807 (76.5) | 14,196 (72.8) | 13,611 (80.8) |
| Otitis media with effusion (OME) | 8,530 (23.5) | 5,294 (27.2) | 3,236 (19.2) |
| Number of diagnoses recorded | |||
| 0–1 | 18,924 (45.7) | 8,716 (39.2) | 10,208 (53.3) |
| 2–3 | 20,621 (50.1) | 12,278 (55.5) | 8,343 (43.8) |
| 4–5 | 1,683 (4.1) | 1,147 (5.2) | 536 (2.8) |
| ≥6 | 163 (0.4) | 115 (0.5) | 48 (0.3) |
| Clinician characteristics | (n = 108) | (n = 53) | (n = 61) |
| Gender | |||
| Female | 78 (77.2) | 36 (76.6) | 46 (79.3) |
| Years in practice | |||
| <5 | 11 (10.9) | 8 (17.0) | 4 (6.9) |
| 5–15 | 44 (43.6) | 18 (38.3) | 28 (48.3) |
| >15 | 46 (45.5) | 21 (44.7) | 26 (44.8) |
| Proportion of visits from patients ≤3 years in age | |||
| <0.6 | 50 (46.3) | 23 (43.4) | 29 (47.5) |
| ≥0.6 | 58 (53.7) | 30 (56.6) | 32 (52.5) |
| Proportion of otitis media visits from patients with a comorbidity increasing the risk of OM | |||
| <0.04 | 76 (70.4) | 37 (69.8) | 44 (72.1) |
| ≥0.04 | 32 (29.6) | 16 (30.2) | 17 (27.9) |
| Proportion of visits from patients with ≥3 diagnoses | |||
| <0.2 | 71 (65.7) | 29 (54.7) | 46 (75.4) |
| ≥0.2 | 37 (34.3) | 24 (45.3) | 15 (24.6) |
| Burden of otitis media visits | |||
| ≤2 visits per clinical day per clinician | 55 (50.9) | 24 (45.3) | 37 (60.7) |
| >2 visits per clinical day per clinician | 53 (49.1) | 29 (54.7) | 24 (39.3) |
| Patient characteristics | (n = 20,656) | (n = 10,645) | (n = 10,036) |
| Gender | |||
| Female | 9,962 (48.2) | 5,184 (48.8) | 4,765 (47.6) |
| Age | |||
| 0–6 months | 1,381 (6.7) | 734 (6.9) | 645 (6.4) |
| >6–≤24 months | 6,607 (32.0) | 3,325 (31.3) | 3,269 (32.7) |
| >2–≤5 years | 6,343 (30.7) | 3,199 (30.1) | 3,137 (31.3) |
| >5 years | 6,325 (30.6) | 3,362 (31.7) | 2,960 (29.6) |
| Comorbidity that increases the risk of otitis media | |||
| Present | 663 (3.2) | 347 (3.3) | 316 (3.2) |
| Not present | 19,993 (96.8) | 10,273 (96.7) | 9,695 (96.8) |