Pediatric clinical decision making.

BACKGROUND

Clinicians systematically gather information and data, generate hypotheses, and using clinical judgment arrive at a diagnosis and treatment plan. This process may be difficult and time consuming. Analysis using decision-making algorithms provides the clinician with a model to simplify complex clinical situations. This decision-making strategy is particularly effective in the pediatric population because of the variability in the patient's responses.

METHODS

This clinical strategy is presented for two clinical scenarios in pediatric patients, nystagmus and esotropia. Two clinical decision-making trees are presented with possible clinical approaches to problem solving.

CONCLUSIONS

Decision analysis in the care of pediatric patients may be simplified by the development of decision-making algorithms. This explanation of the decision-making strategy will allow clinicians to develop a personal approach to problem solving in their clinical care.