Affiliation:
1. Children's National Hospital, Division of Hospital Medicine The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Washington District of Columbia USA
2. Graduate School of Education and Human Development The George Washington University Washington District of Columbia USA
Abstract
AbstractInformal peer consultation (IPC), also called curbside consultation, is a common practice in medicine. Research has shown that physicians use IPC but how this learning occurs during the process has not been studied. This basic qualitative study describes how pediatric hospitalists learn during IPC, framed by Kolb's (2015) Experiential Learning Theory of Growth and Development. Eleven pediatric hospitalists were interviewed. Deidentified transcripts were coded for key themes using inductive methods. The main prompt for informal peer consultation was the perception of uncertainty. Three themes describe the learning process: “Eliciting Perspectives,” “Thinking Aloud Together,” and “Experiencing Validation. A fourth theme, “Acknowledging Value,” described the importance of IPC for modeling how to manage uncertainty with patients' caregivers and medical trainees. By describing the learning process, the results have implications for physicians who engage in IPC and may inform faculty‐level professional development initiatives to improve the IPC process.
Subject
Assessment and Diagnosis,Care Planning,Health Policy,Fundamentals and skills,General Medicine,Leadership and Management