What role is there for 'nudging' clinicians?

Interest in �nudging� the public on health-related matters, such as healthy eating, exercising, becoming an organ donor and most recently COVID-19, has spilled over into nudging healthcare professionals (1-6). While experience and intuition serve clinicians well most of the time, the rules-of-thumb that drive, often quick or subconscious, decisions made under the pressures of day-to-day practice may not always result in good quality, cost-effective care. This has generated growing interest in designing behaviour change interventions that consciously or otherwise �nudge� clinicians in a certain direction (1-5). However, the ethics of nudging have been questioned, as has the science underpinning it (7). In this analysis we examine the rise of nudge-theory and discuss the opportunities and limitations of its application to behaviour change interventions aimed at clinicians.