This episode’s guest is Anna Stirner, a PhD Candidate in Health Economics at the University of Cologne. She discusses her experimental study on physicians’ use of therapeutic decision support (DS) systems in pediatric antibiotic prescribing, examining how access, effort costs, and quality incentives shape uptake and care quality. The conversation explores the challenge of antibiotic overprescription, how younger versus more experienced physicians respond to DS, and policy implications for integrating DS into clinical practice. At the end, Anna also shares her next research steps and gives advice to PhD students.

Guest: Anna Stirner, PhD Candidate, University of Cologne

Timestamps:

(00:13) Anna’s research background and interest in decision support

(02:40) Decision support systems in German healthcare

(04:01) Research design and experimental setup

(12:54) Main results: effort costs, incentives, and uptake

(15:20) Case severity, physician experience, and heterogeneity

(21:00) Policy takeaways and implementation challenges

(23:52) Future research directions and advice for PhD students