Optimal decision making in ED requires clinicians to balance risk and reward; a balance moderated by the degree to which individual clinicians can tolerate the uncertainty inherent in their decisions.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care and Improvement Science themes undertook a mixed methods study to assess the degree to which uncertainty tolerance in ED impacts on actual clinical decisions – such as the decision to admit patients, or the ordering of diagnostic tests. The study also measured key correlates of uncertainty tolerance – such as personality characteristics, demographics, experiences and so on – to identify moderators of the trait, and potentially modifiable intervention targets.
