Table 2.
Appropriateness per site and specialty
| Modality | Category | Site 1 | Site 2 | Site 3 | P value | GIM | Cardiology | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTE | Appropriate % (n) | 87 (98) | 92 (142) | 91 (89) | 0.32 | 88 (185) | 93 (144) | 0.18 |
| May be appropriate % (n) | 4 (5) | 1 (2) | 4 (4) | 0.26 | 4 (9) | 1 (2) | 0.18 | |
| Rarely appropriate % (n) | 9 (10) | 6 (10) | 5 (5) | 0.55 | 8 (16) | 6 (9) | 0.64 | |
| TEE | Appropriate % (n) | 100 (12) | 100 (14) | 100 (3) | N/A | 100 (12) | 100 (17) | N/A |
| May be appropriate % (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | |
| Rarely appropriate % (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | |
| SPECT | Appropriate % (n) | 100 (1) | 86 (12) | 97 (30) | 0.37 | 91 (30) | 100 (13) | 0.65 |
| May be appropriate % (n) | 0 | 14 (2) | 3 (1) | N/A | 9 (3) | 0 | N/A | |
| Rarely appropriate % (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | |
| Diagnostic Catheterization | Appropriate % (n) | 94 (15) | 88 (57) | 97 (30) | 0.95 | 82 (18) | 93 (84) | <0.01 |
| May be appropriate % (n) | 6 (1) | 12 (8) | 3 (1) | 0.31 | 18 (4) | 7 (6) | 0.2 | |
| Rarely appropriate % (n) | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | |
| Combined imaging | Appropriate % (n) | 89 (126) | 91 (225) | 93 (152) | 0.38 | 88 (245) | 94 (258) | 0.03 |
| May be appropriate % (n) | 4 (6) | 5 (12) | 4 (6) | 0.85 | 6 (16) | 3 (8) | 0.15 | |
| Rarely appropriate % (n) | 7 (10) | 4 (10) | 3 (5) | 0.2 | 6 (16) | 3 (9) | 0.23 |
Table demonstrating the percentage of cardiac investigations in each appropriateness category (based on ACCF Appropriate Use Criteria) per site and between the General Internal Medicine (GIM) and Cardiology services. P values for differences in appropriate ordering between sites and between GIM and Cardiology are shown. TTE transthoracic echocardiography, TEE transesophageal echocardiography, SPECT single-photon emission tomography myocardial perfusion imaging