Visual Expertise In Paediatric Neurology

• Objective Visual expertise relies on perceptive as well as cognitive processes. At present, knowledge of these processes when diagnosing clinical cases mainly stems from studies with still pictures. Patient video cases constitute a dynamic and authentic, diagnostic challenge that may simulate seeing and diagnosing a patient in person. This study investigates visual attention and the concomitant cognitive processes of clinicians diagnosing authentic pediatric video cases. Methods A total of 43 clinicians with varying levels of expertise took part in this cross-sectional study. They diagnosed four brief video recordings of children: two with seizures and two with disorders imitating seizures. We used eye tracking to investigate time looking at relevant areas in the video cases and a concurrent think-aloud procedure to explore the associated clinical reasoning processes. Results More experienced clinicians were more accurate in visual diagnosis and spent more of their time looking at relevant areas. At the same time, they explored data less, yet they built and evaluated more diagnostic hypotheses. Interpretation This study adds a new perspective on medical expertise. More experienced clinicians (experts) focus better on relevant areas allowing them to explore data less and at the same time to build and evaluate more diagnostic hypotheses. The combination of effective visual search and the ability to effectively monitor for and evaluate different diagnostic options seems to characterize the experts in visual domains.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Mänsklig interaktion med IKT (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Human Aspects of ICT (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)