Decision-making: Learning outcomes
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After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Outline why some clinical problems about medicines may be harder to solve.
- Describe strategies for managing these clinical problems safely.
- Discuss the steps to take if you discover you have made an error.
You should allow 30-60 minutes to complete this tutorial.Competencies
This tutorial is aimed at hospital trainee pharmacists, and will help you achieve GPhC learning outcomes such as these:- LO 16 Apply professional judgement in all circumstances, taking legal and ethical reasoning into account
- LO 17 Recognise and work within the limits of their knowledge and skills, and get support and refer to others when they need to
- LO 18 Take responsibility for all aspects of pharmacy services, and make sure that the care and services provided are safe and accurate
- LO 20 Act openly and honestly when things go wrong and raise concerns even when it is not easy to do so
- LO 30 Appraise the evidence base and apply clinical reasoning and professional judgement to make safe and logical decisions which minimise risk and optimise outcomes for the person
If you are a foundation pharmacist, this tutorial may help you meet many competencies from the RPS including:
- 1.1 Applies evidence-based clinical knowledge to make suitable recommendations or take appropriate actions.
- 1.2 Provides the multidisciplinary team with information and education, for example, on clinical, legal and governance aspects of medicines.
- 1.6 Uses own pharmaceutical knowledge to positively impact the usage and stewardship of medicines at an individual and population level.
- 1.7 Undertakes a holistic clinical review of a person’s medicines to ensure they are appropriate.
- 2.1 Keeps the individual at the centre of their approach to care at all times.
- 3.1 1 Draws upon own knowledge and up-to-date guidance to effectively make decisions appropriately and with confidence.
- 3.2 Critically appraises appropriate information to make a decision in an efficient and systematic manner; adopts evidence-informed solutions.
- 3.3 Demonstrates awareness of where to seek appropriate information to solve problems and make decisions.
- 3.4 Asks the appropriate questions when engaging with other healthcare professionals to support own decision-making process.
- 3.5 Manages uncertainty and possible risk appropriately, while ensuring high attention to detail is maintained when making decisions regarding the individual receiving care.
- 6.5 Uses effective questioning when working with individuals receiving care or other healthcare professionals.
- 7.2 Is accountable and responsible for own decisions and actions, understanding the potential consequences of these decisions across the whole care pathway.
- 9.4 Effectively and efficiently manages multiple priorities; manages own time and workload calmly, demonstrating resilience.
Continuing professional development
Finally, here are some CPD activities you could consider:
★ Arrange some time to shadow your local medicines advice pharmacist. How do they advise on the best course of action when faced with little or conflicting information on a particular topic? Use MiDatabank to review some past enquiries that presented more challenging clinical decisions.
★ Find out about your Trust's incident reporting scheme and ensure that you know how to submit a report. Maybe you could review some past incidents that have involved medicines with your pharmacy risk lead.
★ Arrange some time to shadow your local medicines advice pharmacist. How do they advise on the best course of action when faced with little or conflicting information on a particular topic? Use MiDatabank to review some past enquiries that presented more challenging clinical decisions.★ Find out about your Trust's incident reporting scheme and ensure that you know how to submit a report. Maybe you could review some past incidents that have involved medicines with your pharmacy risk lead.