Reflections on Decision-Making in Pediatric Dermatology

Aimee Smidt, MD, is a professor of dermatology and pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and Raegan Hunt, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.

At the 2024 Society for Pediatric Dermatology (SPD) Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Smidt and Hunt participated in a panel session titled, "Medical Decision Making - Where Did I Go Wrong?" alongside John Browning, MD, Baylor College of Medicine, and Donald Redelmeier, MD, University of Toronto.

They spoke with Dermatology Times to discuss reflections on clinical decision-making, emphasizing learning from mistakes and leveraging colleague feedback for improved patient care.

Learning from Clinical Scenarios

Reflecting on the session's highlights, Smidt emphasized the importance of learning from clinical scenarios where decisions may not have yielded optimal outcomes. "Today's session was very helpful in regard to sharing different clinical scenarios where medical decision making something went wrong, and to be able to be vulnerable enough to share that with our esteemed colleagues and that decisions can go wrong for various reasons," she said.

Hunt echoed this sentiment, citing examples where biases or distractions influenced decision-making processes. "Keep that open mind," she added.

Advice for Clinicians

Both speakers emphasized the value of feedback and self-reflection in refining medical practices. Smidt stressed that it is normal to encounter challenges in decision-making, but what matters most is how one analyzes and learns from these experiences to enhance patient safety.

Hunt added, "You can surround yourself with excellent colleagues that can help sort of counterbalance some of those biases and help point them out to you."