{
  "abstract": "Objectives The costs of the healthcare system are constantly rising. An increasing proportion of diagnostics and therapies not only do not contribute to the improvement of healthcare, but can even cause harm. Despite this, overuse of medical measures continues to be prescribed. To counteract this behaviour, we need to understand the barriers and opportunities for reducing overuse of medical interventions in General Practice.Method As part of an international project, 4001 general practitioners in General Practice in Austria were invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire between May and June 2022. The survey included two open-ended questions: What do Austrian general practitioners consider to be the most important medical interventions without proven benefit? What measures would be necessary from the point of view of the general practitioners surveyed in order to reduce medical interventions without proven benefit? Responses to these questions were grouped thematically using a combination of inductive and deductive approaches. Deductive categories were based on the Behaviour Change Wheel.Results A total of 331 participants completed the questionnaire, of whom 135 answered the first and 131 the second short-answer question. ‘Imaging’ was named as the most common unnecessary intervention with 80 responses, followed by ‘laboratory’ with 44 responses and ‘medication’ with 32 responses. When asked which measure would be most effective in reducing overuse, ‘education’ (n=31) and ‘empowerment’ (n=26) were mentioned at the intervention level and ‘guidelines’ (n=25) at the policy level.Conclusions Austrian general practitioners, similar to findings in international literature, mention imaging, laboratory and medication as the most important medical interventions without proven benefit. Specific training, guidelines and empowerment are needed to help them reduce unproven medical interventions. There needs to be greater awareness of overuse within one’s own area of work to prevent unnecessary diagnostics and therapies. According to the general practitioners’ responses, it is particularly important to emphasize this issue more prominently in the ongoing discussions about overuse. Additionally, these discussions should begin earlier, starting with medical training and continuing through further education.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of General Practice and Evidence-Based Health Services Research, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria"
      ],
      "name": "Ulrike Spary-Kainz"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of General Practice and Evidence-Based Health Services Research, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria"
      ],
      "name": "Marie-Theres Tauchner"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of General Practice and Evidence-Based Health Services Research, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria"
      ],
      "name": "Christina Radl-Karimi"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of General Practice and Evidence-Based Health Services Research, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria",
        "Institute for General Practice, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt/Main, Germany"
      ],
      "name": "Andrea Siebenhofer"
    }
  ],
  "title": "077 Overuse of medical interventions in general practice in Austria – key measures and options for reduction",
  "uid": "ec8e647e-ee4e-5db5-be98-489e907d417a"
}