Using the nudge method to promote referrals of HBs antigen-/HCV antibody-positive patients from non-hepatology specialty physicians

In our hospital, the Infection Control Team (ICT) evaluates patients who test positive for the hepatitis virus during preoperative and preadmission tests (the hepatitis virus round), and adds referral requests to a hepatologist to the electronic medical records of these patients. A review after 1 year of this practice confirmed that number of referrals provided by non-hepatology specialty physicians was low, especially among short-stay inpatients. Therefore, we requested referrals using the nudge method in year 2 of the initial infection control training session. This increased the referral consultation rate for short-term hospitalization from 14.3% (3/21) before ICT referral to 31.6% (6/19) in the 1st year and 66.7% (8/12) in the 2nd year (vs. before the start, p