Information Overload and the Experienced Clinician

Uncertainty still plays an important role in the aspects of all medical decision making. It is further compounded by the information overload that characterizes modern medicine today. At the heart and centre of all this is the experienced clinician, who must, with the resources on hand in his or her clinic, must make the right decision on behalf of you, the patient. It has been estimated that to effectively practice today's medicine, a clinician must have at his disposal some two million bits of information, subscribe on the average to some seven to ten journals, and know how to use the computer.

We are moving towards a time when patient information can be standardized and integrated with medical evidence on electronic platforms, which bodes well for the idea of preventing clinical negligence. Clinical negligence in the UK has specific meanings. Duty of care, establishment of burden of proof, standard of proof, and causation of injury are what the solicitor must show the judge to establish clinical negligence. With so much information to know, and so much at risk, the average clinician must not only be able to organize the complexity of material collected in a clinical evaluation, and come up with the right diagnostic hypotheses to consolidate said material, but also indicate appropriate management steps in the best interest of the patient. For this the doctor needs the support of his or her group, and knowledge of competing diagnoses -- the first to insure the right actions are taken by support personnel on the patients behalf, and the second to eliminate error.

In these cases, having the individual medical records of the patient at hand courtesy of the computer, and being able to use electronic means to consult with other specialists, as well as research keywords pertinent to the diagnosis, will all go a very long way towards improving medical care for all. In the meanwhile, clinical negligence experts are available on the legal side to answer questions and help the patient. There is an interesting check and balance here between medicine and the law, especially in this era of information overload and the experienced clinician.

For more information and advice on how to make a compensation claim, visit the experts at www.alexanderharris.co.uk today.