title: How aware are Belgian permanent and resident emergency physicians of common medical costs and radiation doses?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish how aware Belgian emergency physicians are of common treatment costs and radiation doses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a questionnaire survey on a voluntary basis, 60 emergency physicians from four universities and four district hospitals were asked to estimate treatment costs and radiation doses involved in the management of a patient with pulmonary embolism. The responses of permanent and resident physicians were then compared with actual data defined by the Belgian legislation. Physicians' error was calculated as a percentage of the real value using the formula [(real-estimated)/real]×100.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty questionnaires were fully completed and analysed. Estimated costs of diagnostic procedures (chest radiograph, ECG, pulmonary-computed tomography, Doppler legs, cardiac ultrasound, ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy), laboratory tests (standard, D-dimers, arterial blood gases), drugs (alteplase, enoxiparine, acenocoumarol) and hospitalization (emergency department, intensive care and pneumology units) were within 25% of real costs for 38, 14, 18 and 30%, respectively, of permanent physicians and 31, 12, 8 and 27% of resident physicians. Drug prices were generally largely overestimated.Mean error of the physicians' estimates of the radiation dose of imaging modalities (chest radiograph, computed tomography and scintigraphy) was 1805% for permanent physicians versus 4997% for resident physicians. There was no significant difference between the two groups for the different items studied.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Emergency doctors, whether permanent physicians or resident physicians, have a limited knowledge of both costs and radiation doses of investigations and treatments they prescribe every day.
authors.affiliation: Abdominal and General Surgery, Université Catholique de Louvain, Cliniques Universitaire de Mont-Godinne, Yvoir, Belgium. gnougon@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Nougon
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gervais
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Véronique
authors.forename: Jamart
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: Vanpee
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dominique
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires