Postoperative complications represent a major public health burden worldwide. Without
standardized, clinically relevant and universally applied endpoints, the evaluation of surgical …

Background Cognitive biases and personality traits (aversion to risk or ambiguity) may lead
to diagnostic inaccuracies and medical errors resulting in mismanagement or inadequate …

Much attention has been paid to the inappropriate underuse of tests and treatments but until
recently little attention has focused on the overuse that does not add value for patients and …

Background: Many medications pose greater health risks when prescribed for older adults,
compared with available pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic alternatives. We sought to …

Abstrac t Background In the management of bacteremia, positive repeat blood cultures
(persistent bacteremia) are associated with increased mortality. However, blood cultures are …

Background: There is concern about increasing utilization of low-value health care services,
including preoperative testing for low-risk surgical procedures. We investigated temporal …

Background Reducing low-value care is a core component of healthcare reforms in many
Western countries. A comprehensive and sound set of low-value care measures is needed …

Abstract Background Through the Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) campaign, national
medical specialty societies have released hundreds of recommendations against health …

Importance Cardiac imaging is a component of the provision of medical care for patients with
heart failure that has experienced a broad expansion in past decades. However, there is a …

Background Reducing monies spent on unnecessary medical care is one possible target to
improve value in healthcare systems. Regional variation in the provision of medical care …