Background: This study aimed to gather insights in physicians' considerations for decisions to either refer for- or to withhold additional diagnostic investigations in nursing home patients with a suspicion of venous thromboembolism.
Methods: Our study was nested in an observational study on diagnostic strategies for suspected venous thromboembolism in nursing home patients. Patient characteristics, bleeding-complications and mortality were related to the decision to withhold investigations. For a better understanding of the physicians' decisions, 21 individual face-to-face in-depth interviews were performed and analysed using the grounded theory approach.
Results: Referal for additional diagnostic investigations was forgone in 126/322 (39.1%) patients with an indication for diagnostic work-up. 'Blind' anticoagulant treatment was initiated in 95 (75.4%) of these patients. The 3 month mortality rates were higher for patients in whom investigations were withheld than in the referred patients, irrespective of anticoagulant treatment (odds ratio 2.45; 95% confidence interval 1.40 to 4.29) but when adjusted for the probability of being referred (i.e. the propensity score), there was no relation of non-diagnosis decisions to mortality (odds ratio 1.75; 0.98 to 3.11). In their decisions to forgo diagnostic investigations, physicians incorporated the estimated relative impact of the potential disease; the potential net-benefits of diagnostic investigations and whether performing investigations agreed with established management goals in advance care planning.
Conclusion: Referral for additional diagnostic investigations is withheld in almost 40% of Dutch nursing home patients with suspected venous thromboembolism and an indication for diagnostic work-up. We propose that, given the complexity of these decisions and the uncertainty regarding their indirect effects on patient outcome, more attention should be focused on the decision to either use or withhold additional diagnostic tests.