Physicians accurately treated only about 60 percent of cases for common childhood health problems, which indicates care quality may be inadequate for many of these conditions, according to a study published in JAMA.
The researchers evaluated care quality provided to 6,689 Australian children under the age of 16 years in 2012 and 2013 across 17 common clinical conditions. The conditions included autism, anxiety, diabetes, asthma, fever, upper respiratory tract infections and tonsillitis.
The study involved 85 general practitioner clinics, 20 specialist practices and 34 hospitals in selected urban and rural locations across three Australian states to understand how often care lined up with clinical practice guideline recommendations.
Here are three study findings.
1. The study found mental health conditions (over 80 percent of the time), diabetes (75.8 percent) and head injuries (78.3 percent) received care that was most in line with clinical practice guidelines.
2. Children with tonsillitis (43.5 percent), fever (54 percent) and upper respiratory tract infections (53.2 percent) received care that was least in line with these guidelines.
3. Lead study author Jeffrey Braithwaite, PhD, suggested several improvements that could be made to the health system, including advancing EMR design to give physicians easier access to real-time information. "Australia has a world-standard healthcare system, but we could improve. Our results mirror studies in Australia and the [U.S.] suggesting that we need to increase provision of care in line with guidelines. This study highlights which conditions need most attention and will drive concerted efforts to improve patient care."