Decision Making in Different Care Settings: Do Undergraduate Students Already Care?

Abstract Purpose The process of decision making in medical practice has been studied extensively. However, the influence of different care settings on that process has not been examined to date. Do undergraduate medical students already adjust their decisions to the varying conditions of two different care settings? Methods Starting on August 12th until September 23rd 2015 a complete semester cohort of students in their 5th year of medical studies attending a practical course in primary care at the University of Muenster was asked to answer questions about 6 paper cases on usual patient encounters. All students received the same cases. However, half of them should imagine they had to deal with the cases in a tertiary-care context, whereas the other half should picture to be confronted with the cases in a primary care context. Results Differences between the two groups were found concerning decisions made with respect to the management of the cases. Those differences indicate that undergraduate students already include differences in care settings in their decision making processes. Discussion As decision making in medical care is an essential part of a physicians׳ daily routine and has tremendous impact on all parties involved, the results stress the need for addressing the different care settings as an influencing factor in undergraduate and continuing medical education.