Is a nudge all we need to promote deliberate clinical inertia and thoughtful clinical decision making?

Abstract

Deliberate clinical inertia is the art of doing nothing as a positive response. Individual clinicians can promote deliberate clinical inertia through teaching, re-framing the act of 'doing nothing' as 'doing something' and engaging in shared decision making. Behaviour change on a larger scale requires a systematic approach. Nudging is a subtle change to the decision-making context to prompt specific choices. A nudge unit is a team of relevant professionals who engage with various multidisciplinary teams within a health service who help test and implement nudge interventions in a clinical environment. A nudge unit could be used to design environments to prompt clinicians to re-think before ordering unnecessary tests or treatments. Nudge units could improve knowledge translation, support continuous quality improvement and help build a learning health system. They could also boost collaboration and empower staff to evaluate their workplace decision-making frameworks.