Effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Resource Consumption on Therapeutic Strategies Chosen by Physiotherapists: Virtual Patient Study.
Clémence Brun, Alexis Akinyemi, Laurène Houtin and 5 others
PMID 41252197WHAT IT FOUND
Physiotherapists chose expert aligned strategies more often for easy low back pain cases than for harder ones.
In easy cases, higher intolerance of uncertainty and using extra test results were linked to less appropriate choices. In harder cases, confidence did not track choice quality.
Key findings
01In the easy case, 111 of 127 physiotherapists chose the most appropriate strategy, and higher intolerance of uncertainty plus more extra test use were associated with less appropriate choices.
02In the medium and difficult cases, intolerance of uncertainty and extra test use were not associated with strategy choice.
03Confidence was positively linked to better strategy choice in the easy case, but negatively linked in the medium and difficult cases.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample of 127 physiotherapists, mostly practising in France, so it may not represent other countries or other health professionals. The study used simulated cases, not real patients, and participants could not revisit earlier choices, which may differ from real consultations. The clinical cases were not formally validated, although participants rated them as realistic. Intolerance of uncertainty was measured by self report, which can be affected by social desirability and limited introspection. The study did not collect participants' subspecialties, which could influence reasoning for unfamiliar cases. The instructions about judicious use of extra tests may have influenced test requests, but this was not controlled.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. No funding source is reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that intolerance of uncertainty caused less appropriate treatment choices. The study was a simulation, and these links appeared only in the easy case.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →