Clinical experience may affect clinician compliance with assigned treatment in randomized trials

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between clinical experience and clinician compliance with the study protocol in randomized clinical trials. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A recent randomized trial of surgical techniques for tibial fracture fixation. We consider rates of treatment crossovers and other noncompliance as a function of the relevant experience of the surgeon. We also examined the effects of noncompliance on patient outcomes.