Teresa M Chan1, Mathew Mercuri, Kenneth Van Dewark, Jonathan Sherbino, Alan Schwartz, Geoff Norman, Matthew Lineberry. 1. T.M. Chan is assistant professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, program director, Clinician Educator Area of Focused Competence program, and adjunct scientist, McMaster Education Research, Innovation and Theory (MERIT), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; ORCID: 0000-0001-6104-462X. M. Mercuri is assistant professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. K. Van Dewark is clinical instructor, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. J. Sherbino is associate professor, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and assistant dean of education research, and director, McMaster Education Research, Innovation, and Theory (MERIT), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. A. Schwartz is Michael Reese Endowed Professor of Medical Education, associate head, Department of Medical Education, and research professor, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago; ORCID: 0000-0003-3809-6637. G. Norman is professor emeritus, Department of Clinical Epidemiology Biostatistics, and founding member, Program for Education Research and Development, and scientist, McMaster Education Research, Innovation and Theory (MERIT), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. M. Lineberry is director, Simulation Research, Assessment, and Outcomes, Zamierowski Institute for Experiential Learning, and assistant professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Emergency physicians (EPs) regularly manage multiple patients simultaneously, often making time-sensitive decisions around priorities for multiple patients. Few studies have explored physician cognition in multipatient scenarios. The authors sought to develop a conceptual framework to describe how EPs think in busy, multipatient environments. METHOD: From July 2014 to May 2015, a qualitative study was conducted at McMaster University, using a think-aloud protocol to examine how 10 attending EPs and 10 junior residents made decisions in multipatient environments. Participants engaged in the think-aloud exercise for five different simulated multipatient scenarios. Transcripts from recorded interviews were analyzed inductively, with an iterative process involving two independent coders, and compared between attendings and residents. RESULTS: The attending EPs and junior residents used similar processes to prioritize patients in these multipatient scenarios. The think-aloud processes demonstrated a similar process used by almost all participants. The cognitive task of patient prioritization consisted of three components: a brief overview of the entire cohort of patients to determine a general strategy; an individual chart review, whereby the participant created a functional patient story from information available in a file (i.e., vitals, brief clinical history); and creation of a relative priority list. Compared with residents, the attendings were better able to construct deeper and more complex patient stories. CONCLUSIONS: The authors propose a conceptual framework for how EPs prioritize care for multiple patients in complex environments. This study may be useful to teachers who train physicians to function more efficiently in busy clinical environments.
PURPOSE: Emergency physicians (EPs) regularly manage multiple patients simultaneously, often making time-sensitive decisions around priorities for multiple patients. Few studies have explored physician cognition in multipatient scenarios. The authors sought to develop a conceptual framework to describe how EPs think in busy, multipatient environments. METHOD: From July 2014 to May 2015, a qualitative study was conducted at McMaster University, using a think-aloud protocol to examine how 10 attending EPs and 10 junior residents made decisions in multipatient environments. Participants engaged in the think-aloud exercise for five different simulated multipatient scenarios. Transcripts from recorded interviews were analyzed inductively, with an iterative process involving two independent coders, and compared between attendings and residents. RESULTS: The attending EPs and junior residents used similar processes to prioritize patients in these multipatient scenarios. The think-aloud processes demonstrated a similar process used by almost all participants. The cognitive task of patient prioritization consisted of three components: a brief overview of the entire cohort of patients to determine a general strategy; an individual chart review, whereby the participant created a functional patient story from information available in a file (i.e., vitals, brief clinical history); and creation of a relative priority list. Compared with residents, the attendings were better able to construct deeper and more complex patient stories. CONCLUSIONS: The authors propose a conceptual framework for how EPs prioritize care for multiple patients in complex environments. This study may be useful to teachers who train physicians to function more efficiently in busy clinical environments.