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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01752673

The Visualization of Uncertainty in Clinical Diagnostic Reasoning for Pulmonary Embolism

Medical reasoning is a form of inquiry that examines the thought processes involved in making medical decisions. When physicians are faced with patients' symptoms or signs, their thought processes follow either direct shortcuts to suspect a diagnosis or go into a deeper and more analytic process to reach a diagnosis. The second pathway is less prone to biases and errors. This study explores whether the use of an interactive visual display of probabilities of pulmonary embolism generated from positive or negative test results will increase the adherence to evidence based guidelines in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.

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Key information

Conditions

Pulmonary Embolism Cardiovascular Diseases Clinical Reasoning Diagnostic Uncertainty Embolism Embolism and Thrombosis Evidence Based Medicine Lung Diseases Respiratory Tract Diseases Vascular Diseases Visualization of Uncertainty

Age range

24 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Calgary

Calgary, Alberta, T2V1P9, Canada

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Medical students, University of Calgary, in clerkship who finished at least 4 weeks of a block of medicine rotation at any hospital site.
  • First year subspecialty or Internal Medicine residents.
  • Practicing physicians in the subspecialties of Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine.

Exclusion criteria

  • Physicians in the subspecialty of Haematology or Respiratory

Treatment and study plan

Visualized pulmonary embolism computer task model

Other

This group of participants was presented and trained to use a visual representation of diagnostic pathway for pulmonary embolism. The design of this visual representation is based on Bayes theorem and cognition enhancing visual design principles.

Didactic review lecture

Other

This group of participants was presented with a didactic lecture covering the diagnostic approach of pulmonary embolism.

Primary outcomes

  1. Concordance with medical diagnostic reasoning pathway for pulmonary embolism.

    Time frame: Paper-based clinical case scenarios were completed within 2 hour after either intervention.

    Concordance with medical diagnostic reasoning pathway for a case presentation suggestive of pulmonary embolism will be reflected by whether participants are stopping prematurely or proceeding with diagnostic steps inappropriately.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Time.

    Time frame: Paper-based clinical case scenarios were completed within 2 hour after either intervention.

    The overall time taken to solve each clinical scenario may give insight to which decision making process was predominant to solve each clinical scenario.

Other outcomes

  1. Survey.

    Time frame: Survey was completed within 2 hours after completion of either intervention.

    The participants' responses to the satisfaction survey will provide feedback about the need for improvement or modification in interface of software

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Calgary

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Visualization of Uncertainty in Clinical Diagnostic Reasoning for Pulmonary Embolism: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Important dates

Study start
2011
Primary completion
2011
Study completion
2011
First posted
Dec 19, 2012
Registry last updated
Dec 19, 2012

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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