Decision-making on the fly: a qualitative study of physicians in out-of-hospital emergency medical services.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Out-of-hospital Emergency Medical Services (OHEMS) require fast and accurate assessment of patients and efficient clinical judgment in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity. Guidelines and protocols can support staff in these situations, but there is significant variability in their use. Therefore, the aim of this study was to increase our understanding of physician decision-making in OHEMS, in particular, to characterize the types of decisions made and to explore potential facilitating and hindering factors.

Methods

Qualitative interview study of 21 physicians in a large, publicly-owned and operated OHEMS in Croatia. Data was subjected to an inductive content analysis.

Results

Physicians (mostly young, female, and early in their career), made three decisio

SUBMITTER: Karmelic E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10246870 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature