Premium
Special Concern: Clinical decision making in evaluating patients: a process study
Author(s) -
Ettinger Ronald L.,
Beck James D.,
Martin Wendy E.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-4505.1990.tb00762.x
Subject(s) - medicine , process (computing) , patient care , geriatric care , geriatrics , nursing , psychiatry , computer science , operating system
A volunteer patient was examined by five dentists experienced in caring for geriatric patients. The patient and dentist interaction was videotaped and reviewed to evaluate a previously generated hypothesis regarding the diagnosis process. This descriptive study suggests that dentists experienced in geriatric care did assess and evaluate a wide range of patient characteristics. However, they did not follow the previously hypothesized process in arriving at an appropriate treatment plan. Instead, they relied heavily on past experiences with similar situations. The possible implications of this process for treatment planning and teaching of geriatric dentistry are discussed.