Diagnostic Reasoning

The Out of Hours project

This project investigates the diagnostic process in out of hours general practice. We believe this practice setting is a particularly challenging one for clinicians and we hope that our project may lead to a better understanding of the difficulties faced in making clinical decisions under these circumstances. To collect our data, we are in the final stages of 30 minute interviews with experienced clinicians, where we ask them to reflect on two recent cases. Preliminary analysis of the data shows promising new insights that will improve our understanding of how GPs make decisions in these circumstances.

Systematic Review of Reflection on Clinical Practice

Reflection on practice is seen as an essential prerequisite for good clinical practice. Our objective is to review current concepts about reflection, how clinicians reflect and what demonstrable impact it has on practice. The questions we ask focus on the methods of reflection observed in clinical practice, how reflection may change clinician behaviours and how it improves the uptake of EBM resources. We are now at the stage of analysing the literature relating to these issues.