A physiotherapist is treating two people with low back pain. One is a tall, older man and the other is a younger, shorter, over-weight woman. The physiotherapist is faced with a dilemma: “how do I treat these people – do I give them the individual treatments they need, as is expected by my profession, or do I limit treatments according to cost and number, as dictated by the current health ‘system’”.

 

The complex decisions that health professionals make in working with these very different clients – also known as clinical reasoning – are critically examined in the latest book by edited by Joy Higgs, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Strategic Research Professor in Professional Practice, and Mr Mark Jones, Dr Stephen Loftus – also with CSU – and Ms Nicole Christensen.

 

“Many professions, including health, are grappling with the need to balance economic and managerial limitations with the reality that individual people don’t fit into neat categories requiring the same treatments and care,” Professor Higgs said.

 

“Clinical reasoning in the Health Professions questions what is best practice and what is the place of professional autonomy in decision making.”

 

Professor Higgs contends that clinical reasoning is far more complex than a routine ’one size fits all‘ approach. “Health professionals need to be able to make sound and defensible decisions under uncertain and complex conditions, in the face of patients having multiple health care problems and very different life circumstances.

 

“This book brings together leading international researchers, educators and practitioners across the health professions to address the challenges posed by professional decision making.”

 

Authors of the book’s 47 chapters, from Australia, New Zealand, USA and Europe, examine the nature and context of clinical reasoning and trends and research into clinical reasoning. It also looks at how to communicate, teach and learn about clinical reasoning over a range of allied health professions, including medicine, nursing, physiotherapy and dentistry.

 

”We need to carefully consider the power and responsibility of clinical decision making balanced against the apparent certainty of so-called ‘evidence-based practice’. We need to ensure that the best evidence available from both practice and research is used to provide high quality, patient-centred and patient-specific care.”