ArticleFrontiers in medicine2025
Navigating uncertainty in patient care: a closer look at emergency medicine residents in Brazil.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The dark side of private medical education in Brazil.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Doctors in the making, or degrees for sale? A student's view of Brazil's medical education crisis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: In emergency care, inexperience and case complexity can generate uncertainty and stress among physicians, impairing decision-making and impacting patients and the healthcare system. Despite its relevance, little is known about uncertainty among Emergency Medicine residents (EMRs). Aim: To investigate decision-making uncertainty among EMRs, identifying the most affected dimensions and the influence of sociodemographic and academic profiles. Methods: This cross-sectional study included EMRs in Brazil, regardless of residency year. Data were collected via snowball sampling using an anonymous electronic form distributed through virtual groups and email. Information on sociodemographic/academic characteristics, as well as the Physicians' Reactions to Uncertainty (PRU) questionnaire, was obtained. Results: A total of 124 EMRs participated (median age 28 years; 52% female). The majority of the participants were first-year residents (49%), with no prior residency experience (92%) or other healthcare degrees (94%). The Southeast region was most represented (38%). The median PRU score was 49.0 (IQR: 41.0-57.0), with the highest scores observed in anxiety due to uncertainty (21.0) and reluctance to disclose uncertainty to patients (13.0). Cluster analysis identified three groups: high (43%), moderate (35%), and low (22%) uncertainty. Male and third-year residents had significantly lower total PRU scores, especially in anxiety ( Conclusion: EMRs show substantial uncertainty in decision-making, particularly in anxiety and reluctance to disclose uncertainty to patients. First-year residents and those without prior healthcare training or residency are more affected. Male and more experienced residents report lower uncertainty, especially regarding anxiety. These findings suggest that targeted interventions-such as enhanced training and structured support-could help EMRs manage uncertainty, improving both decision-making and well-being in emergency settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.