Exploring the Experiences of Medical Residents from Clinical Decision- Making: A Qualitative Study

Clinical decision-making is a key component of clinical practice that affects the quality of providing patient services. The explosion of medical knowledge and the need for autonomy of residents' performance has made clinical decision making more difficult for residents. This study explores the experiences of medical residents from clinical decision making.

A qualitative content analysis approach was adopted. Individual semi-structured interviews with medical residents were done. The participants were the medical residents from the hospitals of Tabriz University of medical sciences. Purposive sampling method with the maximum variation was employed. Data collected by individual semi-structured interviews until data saturation and concurrently analyzed. MAXQDA 10 was used to manage the textual data.

Three main categories emerged from the experiences of medical residents including, inadequacy of clinical decision making requirements, decision making based on the prevailing conditions in the clinical setting and lack of supportive professional relations.

Given that clinical decision making is formed in a structure consisting of the climate of clinical setting, available facilities and equipment as well as professional relationships in workplace; therefore, elimination of barriers requires improving the cultural, educational, professional settings and interpersonal relationship.