PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Clarfield, A. M.
AU  - Kogan, S.
AU  - Bergman, H.
AU  - Shapiro, D. E.
AU  - Beaudet, M. P.
TI  - Do consensus conferences influence their participants?
DP  - 1996 Feb 01
TA  - Canadian Medical Association Journal
PG  - 331--336
VI  - 154
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/154/3/331.short
4100  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/154/3/331.full
SO  - CMAJ1996 Feb 01; 154
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To determine whether participation in a consensus conference on the assessment of dementia would influence conference participants with respect to their recommendations to primary care physicians for the assessment of dementia. DESIGN: Questionnaire before and after the conference. SETTING: Canadian Consensus Conference on the Assessment of Dementia, held in Montreal, Oct. 5 and 6, 1989. PARTICIPANTS: All 38 experts representing relevant health disciplines who participated in the consensus conference; 36 completed both questionnaires. OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants' opinion before and after the conference as to how frequently each of 28 manoeuvres (12 blood tests, 4 neurologic imaging procedures, 4 types of consultation and 8 "other" tests) should be ordered by primary care physicians as part of an assessment of a patient with dementia suspected in clinical grounds. RESULTS: For 18 (64%) of the 28 manoeuvres (10 of the 12 blood tests, 3 of the 4 neurologic imaging procedures and 5 of the 8 "other" tests), there was a shift in opinion after the conference toward recommending that primary care physicians order them less often; for 10 of these 18 (5 blood tests and 5 "other" tests) the shift was statistically significant. For the remaining 10 manoeuvres (36%) the shift in opinion was toward a recommendation that primary care physicians order them more often; the shift was not statistically significant for any of these 10 manoeuvres. CONCLUSION: Expert members of a consensus conference are influenced by the process of having participated in such a conference and are capable and willing to chance their initial recommendations when confronted with relevant data.