Diagnostic conversations: Clinical Decision Making in surgery - Part 1

Area of Science:

• Surgical Education
• Medical Decision Making
• Cognitive Science in Surgery

Background:

• Expert surgeons possess complex decision-making skills that are difficult to articulate and teach.
• A gap exists in formal training for the cognitive processes underlying surgical clinical decision making.
• Effective surgical training requires explicit models of expert thought processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a model explaining the processes of clinical decision making in surgery.
• To create a Clinical Decision Making (CDM) training course based on this model.
• To provide a framework for teaching surgical decision making applicable to diverse clinical scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Collaborative development of a clinical decision-making model by surgeons and staff.
• Creation of a structured CDM training course.
• Utilizing case-based interactions to model and teach decision-making processes.

Main Results:

• A functional model for explaining surgical clinical decision making was established.
• A CDM training course was successfully devised and implemented.
• The model and course facilitate the explicit teaching of decision-making processes in surgical training.

Conclusions:

• Formalizing and teaching clinical decision-making processes enhances surgical education.
• The developed CDM model and course offer a transferable framework for surgical training.
• Explicit instruction in decision making improves the ability of surgeons to train others effectively.