title: The transition to clinical expert: enhanced decision making for children aged less than 5 years attending the paediatric ED with acute respiratory conditions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rates of unplanned paediatric admissions are persistently high. Many admissions are short-stay events, lasting less than 48 hours.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This qualitative research explores factors that influence clinical decision making in the paediatric ED (PED) for children under 5 attending with acute respiratory conditions, focusing on how management decisions adapt with increasing experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 PED clinicians (doctors, emergency nurse practitioners and registered nurses) with varying levels of experience in paediatric emergency medicine (PEM), emergency medicine or paediatrics. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed thematically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were clear differences in decision-making approaches between experienced clinicians and junior staff. The latter were more risk adverse, relying heavily on guidelines, set admission criteria, clinical theory and second opinions. This was particularly true for doctors. 'Informal' learning was apparent in accounts from less-experienced doctors and nurses, whereby tacit knowledge and risk management played an increasing role in the development of clinical intuition that permitted rapid assessment and treatment of young patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The emergence of intuition entwined with approaches to risk management and the role of these skills in clinical decision making, carry implications for the development of training programmes for clinicians working in PEM. Enhanced training for such groups to permit development of the supplementary skills described in this study could have the ability to improve care delivery and even reduce paediatric admissions.
authors: Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors: Leah
authors: L
authors: Bowen
authors: Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors: Alison
authors: A
authors: Shaw
authors: Emergency Department, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, UK.|Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
authors: Mark D
authors: MD
authors: Lyttle
authors: Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Purdy
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003657:Decision Making; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: emergency care systems, primary care; paediatric emergency med