Clinical Decision Making by Emergency Room Physicians and Residents

Abstract

Clinical decision-making is a complex process that is reliant on accurate and timely information. Clinicians are dependent (or should be dependent) on massive amounts of information and knowledge to make decisions that are in the best interest of the patient. Increasingly, information technology (IT) solutions are being used as a knowledge transfer mechanism to ensure that clinicians have access to appropriate knowledge sources to support and facilitate medical decision making. One particular class of IT that the medical community is showing increased interest in is clinical decision support systems (CDSSs).

Key Terms in this Chapter

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA): A handheld computer device.

Pediatric Abdominal Pain Triage: A process of sorting children with abdominal pain into categories that reflect the treatment they require

Logistic Regression: Technique for making predictions when a dependent variable is a categorical dichotomy, and the independent variable(s) are continuous and/or categorical.

Emergency Department (ED): The department responsible for providing immediate medical care to patients arriving at the hospital.

Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS): Software that assists clinicians in making health care decisions.