Clinical Decision Making Webinar Series

This four part webinar series moves past theory to actual clinical practice to explore why highly skilled clinicians sometimes miss a diagnosis.

Research shows that over 70% of diagnostic errors are driven by predictive cognitive shortcuts rather than lack of medical knowledge. These webinars explore the blind spots to prevent the severe threats to patient safety.

I have designed this series because I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience that I have gained as a clinician and senior lecturer over the last 44 years. Many courses on clinical decision making are delivered by non- clinical psychologists or senior academics who have not stepped into a clinical environment. As an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and a university senior lecturer I have the practical experience to adapt the academia into clinical practice. I can share with you how the principles and tools of clinical decision making can be used on a shift the very next day.

Webinar 1. Exploring models and tools to support efficient clinical decision making in a limited appointment time.

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We take an hour to explore models and tools to support efficient clinical decision making in a limited appointment time and look at an overview of the reasons for poor clinical decision making such as premature closure which I know is hard to dodge when a waiting room is full and you have limited appointment time.

Not only do decisions take time but also emotional and physical energy. I explore how to reduce the decisions we need to make when arriving at a diagnosis and how improved communication and focus can save time.

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Webinar 2. Acute Adult Care- how history taking skills support clinical decision making

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In this hour we will explore practical clinical decision making in the context of real adult case studies. We will explore meta cognitive skills, variables that affect decision making and how to prevent anchoring.

We will use techniques such as pre mortem, neuro-linguistic programming to improve history taking skills and safety netting.

Webinar 3. Acute Paediatric Care- Using case studies to explore bias and its effect on clinical decision making, diagnosis and management.

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Join me for this hour when we explore how biases can effect our clinical decision making. Bias refers to the evaluation of a person, situation, or information that can be positive or negative, and it may be explicit (conscious) or implicit (unconscious). We as clinicians may be unaware of its influence on our decisions, potentially perpetuating disparities in care and affecting patient outcomes.

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We look at how In clinical settings, implicit bias effects our clinical decision making, diagnosis and management. We discuss ways of mitigating authoritative bias by using case studies and tools.

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We discuss expectations of the clinician and parent/child and how safety netting can make our clinical decisions more safe. Using tools like cartesian co-ordinates, timelines and pre mortem.

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Webinar 4. Multi-morbidity- using a case study to demonstrate clinical decision making with patients with complex conditions.

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As we know multi morbidity is common and associated with quality of life, higher mortality, polypharmacy and high treatment burden (BMJ 2024). In this final session we explore the barriers to clinical decision making, including clinician perspectives of medico-legal vulnerability.

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Patient involvement in decision making is crucial for older patients to maximise quality of life and patient safety. We address how we can maximise this to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

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We take this hour to explore how we can use communication techniques and how to apply our skills and knowledge to enhance the clinical decision making process with patients with multi morbidity.

We will work through a case study including polypharmacy and how we can use clinical decision making tools to improve quality of life.