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Clinical Inertia

Abstract

In this chapter, we define the following terms: clinical inertia, therapeutic inertia, clinical practice guidelines, Evidence-Based Medicine, evidence practice gap, and medical error. In particular, we insist straightaway on the fact that lack of treatment intensification is not always a case of clinical inertia, but can represent on the contrary a carefully thought out decision on the part of the physician. This incites one to think about the quality criteria which preside over the evaluation of the quality of medical behaviors. At the end of the chapter, we propose a formal definition of true clinical inertia: physician behavior falls under Clinical Inertia if and only if

  1. 1.

    a Guideline (G) exists, explicit or implicit

  2. 2.

    the doctor (D) knows the Guideline (G)

  3. 3.

    the doctor (D) thinks that this Guideline (G) applies to the patient (P)

  4. 4.

    the doctor (D) has the resources to apply the Guideline (G)

  5. 5.

    conditions 1–4 have been met, yet the doctor (D) does not follow the Guideline (G) in the case of the patient (P).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Avicenne Hospital and Paris 13 University, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Bobigny, France

    Gérard Reach

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Reach, G. (2015). Definitions. In: Clinical Inertia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09882-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09882-1_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09881-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09882-1

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