Author
Emily Parker
Title
“I’m just not quite sure, so I’ll admit them”: Junior and middle grade doctor’s perceptions of how they tolerate the uncertainty associated with admission and discharge decisions in the Emergency Department.
Rationale
Sometimes, liberal approaches to admission and testing are taken by Emergency Department (ED) doctors as a result of uncertainty increasing fear associated with potential poor patient outcomes. Physicians who have lower tolerance of uncertainty can also have higher levels of burnout, work-related stress, depression, anxiety and reduced job satisfaction and engagement. This is more prevalent amongst junior staff populations and this is a result of junior doctors showing lower tolerance to uncertainty than their more experienced colleagues.
To reduce the negative manifestations of uncertainty amongst junior and middle grade doctors, it is necessary to explore how doctors respond to uncertainty, the factors which inhibit effective uncertainty management and identify how doctors can be better supported to clinically reason in the face of uncertainty.
Aim
To explore how junior doctors and registrars experience uncertainty in EDs, focusing on how uncertain admission and discharge decisions are responded to and the factors which doctors perceive to influence how they manage such cases. The findings will support the development of an intervention to enhance uncertainty tolerance (UT) surrounding patient management decisions.