Alphabetical prejudice in team discussions (Or would Zebedee ever get seen on a ward round)

Abstract

Purpose. To ascertain whether the order in which patients are discussed in a team meeting determines the time spent on discussion.

Design. Prospective study over 18 consecutive multidisciplinary team meetings.

Setting/subjects. Multidisciplinary team meetings on a Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, Edinburgh.

Main Outcome Measure. Time spent discussing each case.

Results. Patients discussed early on received 3 – 4 minutes more discussion time than those later on. This was highly significant on a one-way analysis of variance (P < 0.001).

Conclusions. Preferential treatment of patients who come at the start of the team meeting is a real phenomenon. Such alphabetical prejudice, where it exists, should be addressed.

Keywords:

• Bias
• multidisciplinary
• neurorehabilitation