Medical students knowledge and attitudes towards costs of tests and treatments

Objectives: 1) To examine medical students' knowledge about costs of laboratory tests, imaging procedures, and treatments. 2) To examine medical students' attitudes regarding receiving information about costs, and its effect on their future clinical behavior. Design: This was a cross-sectional study using an anonymous three-part questionnaire that was distributed to all students of the Ben Gurion University Medical School. Responses were received from 269 students (approximately 70%). Results: According to the results, most students did not estimate the costs correctly. It was found that: 69.5% of the students did not receive any information about costs during their studies 81.4% of the students expressed interest in receiving such information 66.2% thought that knowing the costs would change their future clinical decision making. Conclusions and Recommendations: Medical students lack information regarding the cost of laboratory tests and medical treatments. Providing information to medical students about costs may help reduce future health care expenses. Our recommendations are: 1. To include economic content in the medical curriculum 2. To perform periodic updates and continuing medical education in this area 3. To combine this educational program with other intervention methods in order to effectively reduce health care expenses.