The prescription for confidence

Providing high-quality patient care

A clinician’s ability to provide high-quality patient care with safety relies on the decisions they make and the actions they take which, in turn, can depend on their experience and the resources they draw upon.

In Clinical Knowledge Needs of Clinicians from Diagnosis through to Treatment, Dr. Ian Chuang, Chief Medical Officer, Elsevier states, ‘It is without a doubt that the clinician from whom we receive care is of the utmost importance, but the resources they leverage to support and augment the clinical treatment decisions are equally as vital to deliver quality care and the best outcomes for patients.’

The challenge in perfecting skills

Dr Arun Khemariya, Content Strategy, Health Technology, Clinical Solutions, Elsevier also maintains this view and declares, ‘Although free sources of reference material provide information, the data is unstructured or standardised and relies on clinicians using their own understanding, with doctors in their early years having to refer to the more experienced consultants.’ He continues, ‘In those zero to five years until they become a senior resident, they are trying to perfect their skills.’

How can a more junior doctor reduce interruptions to their (and their heads of department) workflow and develop their critical thinking skills? COVID-19 has made achieving this even more challenging. An NPR article describes how the pandemic has pushed junior doctors in India to the limit with having to make life or death decisions on their own and how they are pressed into emergency medicine and critical care, regardless of what they’ve studied - sometimes unable to turn to their senior physicians who are too busy with other patients.

Making informed decisions

Patients need to feel assured that their doctor is equipped to provide the best possible care, and CMOs need to know how they can improve clinical outcomes.

Dr Chuang advocates that ‘Clinical practice can be improved through informed, confident decisions.’ To enable this, Elsevier has developed ClinicalKey Now to support physicians in their early career stages while on their rounds by helping them make evidence-based decisions for diagnosis and treatment.

ClinicalKey Now includes clinical reviews, clinical algorithms and drug monographs, reflects national and regional practice and follows global standards (for example, for disease demographics, social behaviour, population-based aspects).

ClinicalKey Now is just what the doctor ordered.