clinical expertise: where would we be without it? ronnie detrich
Post on 17-Jan-2018
226 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Clinical Expertise: Where Would We Be Without It?
Ronnie Detrich
Questions
• How many decisions do you make in a day?• Of those decisions, how often do you consult the
research literature?• If not consulting research literature what is basis for
decision?
The Clinical Problem
• Practitioners must make many decisions every day about services for clients.
• There is an ethical responsibility to make decisions in a way that most likely improves outcomes for clients.
• What is to be the basis for those decisions? Expertise is necessary and inevitable.
Definition of Evidence-based Practice
• Evidence-based practice:a framework for decision makingdesigned to improve outcomes for clients
• Evidence-based practice is the integration of: best available evidence, clinical expertise, client values and context,
as a basis for decision-making.
Best Available Evidence
Client Values & Context
Clinical Decision
Clinical Expertise
Available Evidence
Client Values & Context
Clinical Expertise
Clinical Decision
Best Available Evidence
Client Values & Context
Clinical Expertise
Clinical Decision
Available Evidence
Clinical Expertise
• To date, most of the attention has been given to best available evidence.
• Goal today: understand what clinical expertise is, the necessity and inevitability of it,and the limitations of it.
What is Clinical Expertise
Clinical expertise: competence attained by psychologists through education, training, and experience that results in effective practice.
(APA Task Force, 2006)
Why Clinical Expertise is Necessary
“Evidence doesn’t make decisions, people do.”(Haynes, Devereaux, Guyatt, 2002)
“The formalized experience of science, added to the practical experience of the individual in a complex set of circumstances, offers the best basis for effective action.”
Skinner (S&HB, 1953)
Why Clinical Expertise is Necessary
“When we do not know, we guess. Science does not eliminate guessing, but by narrowing the field of alternative courses of action it helps us to guess more effectively.”
Skinner (S&HB, 1953)
Clinical expertise is not the enemy;It is the means by which evidence contacts clients.
Why is Clinical Expertise Inevitable?
• All clinical problems are contextual.
“Clinical expertise is used to integrate the best research evidence with clinical data (e.g., information about the patient obtained over the course of treatment) in the context of the patient’s characteristics and preferences to deliver services that have a high probability of achieving the goals of treatment.”
APA Task Force, 2006
Why Clinical Expertise is Inevitable
“In those instances where more than one scientifically supported treatment has been established, additional factors may be considered in selecting interventions, including, but not limited to, efficiency and cost-effectiveness, risks and side-effects of the interventions, client preference, and practitioner experience and training.”
BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code 2.09c
Why Clinical Expertise is Inevitable
“Clients have the right to effective treatment (i.e., based on the research literature and adapted to the individual client).”
BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code 2.09a
Why Clinical Expertise is Inevitable
“The type of assessment used is determined by clients’ needs and consent, environmental parameters, and other contextual variables.”
BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code 3.01a
Why Is Clinical Expertise Inevitable?
• Practitioners always work under conditions of uncertainty.No outcomes are certain.
“The application of research evidence to a given patient always involves probabilistic inferences.”
(APA Task Force, 2006)
Components of Clinical Expertise• Ethical practice• Knowledge of the research literature and its
applicability to particular clients• Incorporation of the conceptual system of ABA • Breadth and depth of clinical and interpersonal
skills• Integration of client values and context • Recognition of the need for outside consultation• Data-based decision making• Ongoing professional development
Slocum, et al., (2014)
Limits to Clinical Expertise
• Humans are flawed decision makers.
“Whenever psychologists involved in research or practice move from observations to inferences
and generalizations, there are inherent risks of idiosyncratic interpretations, overgeneralizations, confirmatory biases, and similar errors in judgment.”
APA Task Force, 2006
• “Biases” are efficient and often correct. Trouble comes when they are not critically examined.
Experience is Not Enough
• Systematic review of physicians (Choudhry, 2005)62 studies reviewed.2% reported increasing performance with increasing years
of experience.21% reported no association between experience and
outcomes.52% of studies reported decreasing performance with
increasing years of experience across all outcomes. In sum, 73% of studies showed increasing experience was
either negatively or unrelated to positive outcomes.
Variables Influencing Clinical Expertise
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Clinician History
• History of reinforcement and punishment for clinical behaviors
• Professional values (i.e., outcomes that function as reinforcers)
Experience alone is not sufficient for establishing clinical expertise (Dawes, 1994; Tracey et al., 2014)Deliberate practice (Ericsson, 2006)Availability of accurate feedback (Shanteau, 1992)
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Client Outcomes
Client outcomes may reinforce or punish particular clinical behaviors
e.g., relying on parental report to identify reinforcers vs. conducting a preference assessment
But, clinicians may vary in sensitivity to client outcomes as consequences
Personal history, clinician history, rule-following (Hayes et al., 1986)
And, consequences are not optimal for shaping behavior Client outcomes are often delayed Often not a direct, causal relation between one clinician behavior
and a client outcome
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Organizational Context
• Establishes motivation What outcomes are reinforcing?
• Sets rules and contingencies that can support or hinder clinical expertise and ethical practice “One size fits all” assessments and curricula Number of clients on caseload Available resources, access to research Use of decision-making flowcharts Data shares and feedback on decision-making
Geiger, Carr, and LeBlanc (2000)
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Personal History
• History of reinforcement and punishment that shapes personal values (i.e., reinforcing outcomes)
• Influences receptiveness to principles of behavior and ethical standards of ABA
“Spare the rod, spoil the child” “You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar”
4.08a: Behavior analysts recommend reinforcement rather than punishment whenever possible. Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts (2015)
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Training Program
• Preservice Training Coursework
Quality and quantity Rules (e.g., definitions and prescriptive recommendations) Contingencies (case-based learning, decision-making practice)
Supervised Experience Implementation of assessments and interventions Repeated application of decision-making in context Explicit feedback
• Continuing Education Contact with research and evolving ethical standards *Most do not have elements of deliberate practice
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Behavior Analyst Certification Board
Direct and indirect influences on clinical expertise at various levels•Content standards: Task list, exam•Approval of course sequences and university supervision practica•Ethical and disciplinary standards•Supervision standards•Continuing education requirements
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
State and National Organizations
• Additional content standards and ethical guidelines for personnel preparation
• Conferences for ongoing professional development*Most do not have elements of deliberate practice
• Advocacy
Variables That Influence Clinical Expertise
Laws, Policies & Insurance Requirements
May constrain, or set the occasion for, organizations to support clinical expertise
Funding and reimbursement ratesMandated or prohibited assessments and practicesNumber of hours prescribed/reimbursed
Developing Clinical Expertise
Developing Clinical Expertise
• Minimum of 10 years of intense practice to develop expert performance.
• Deliberate practice: Immediate informative feedbackKnowledge of resultsRepeatedly perform the same or similar tasks
(Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Romer, 1993)
Developing Clinical Expertise
• Create organizational culture that support decisions incorporating best available evidence and client values and context
• Create opportunities for deliberate practice in Specific clinical skills Decision-making
• Training programs/organizational contexts Set the occasion for explicit decision-making (“think-aloud”) Give immediate feedback Evaluate effects of the decision Incorporate decision aids
Developing Clinical Expertise
• BACB Recent changes: Task list update, ethics course, ethics
CEUs, enhanced standards for supervisionPossible considerations: Incorporate deliberate practice
• Laws and policiesProvide adequate reimbursement to enable reasonable
caseloadsRequire person-centered planning or family priorities in
treatment plans for reimbursement
Final Thoughts
• The necessity of clinical expertise does not mean that it can be substituted for best available evidence and client values and context.
• The flaws of clinical expertise does not mean we can ignore or eliminate it.
• The best path forward is to improve it.
Client Outcomes
Client outcomes may reinforce or punish particular clinical behaviors
e.g., relying on parental report to identify reinforcers vs. conducting a preference assessment
But, clinicians may vary in sensitivity to client outcomes as consequences
Personal history, clinician history, rule-following (Hayes et al., 1986)
And, consequences are not optimal for shaping behavior Client outcomes are often delayed Often not a direct, causal relation between one clinician behavior
and a client outcome
Clinician History
• History of reinforcement and punishment for clinical behaviors
• Professional values (i.e., outcomes that function as reinforcers)
Experience alone is not sufficient for establishing clinical expertise (Dawes, 1994; Tracey et al., 2014)Deliberate practice (Ericsson, 2006)Availability of accurate feedback (Shanteau, 1992)
Clinician History
• History of reinforcement and punishment for clinical behaviors
• Professional values (i.e., outcomes that function as reinforcers)
Experience alone is not sufficient for establishing clinical expertise (Dawes, 1994; Tracey et al., 2014)Deliberate practice (Ericsson, 2006)Availability of accurate feedback (Shanteau, 1992)
Developing Clinical Expertise
• Cannot eliminate it/wish it away.• CE is imperfect basis for making decisions.• If clinical expertise is necessary, inevitable, and
unreliable how do we improve it?• Are judgments getting made in a disciplined expert
fashion or are they being influenced by idiosyncratic variables not controlled by BAE and client values and context?
top related