Table 1 Characteristics of previous uncertainty models

Light (1979) [8]

Based on clinical reasoning

Five areas where medical students experience uncertainty

Expectations of the professor

Includes clinical reasoning when considering diagnosis and treatment

Adequacy of knowledge

Appropriate diagnosis

Effective treatment

Patient satisfaction

Beresford (1991) [9]

Based on empirical observation and interviews

Three types of uncertainty

Technical: lack of knowledge to understand the situation

Uncertainty shapes medical decision making, which affects the ethical and professional commitment of the physicians

Conceptual: lack of skills to put acquired knowledge in practice

Personal: unknown expectations and difficult communication regarding another person

The ethical dimension is situated within the person, rather than in the ambiguity of the situation

Farnan et al. (2008) [10]

Based on critical incident interviews

Six categories derived from Beresford’s three types

Procedural skills

The model is based on the trajectory followed by medical residents and specifies an ordered series of coping strategies

Knowledge of indications

Care transitions

Diagnostic decision making Management conflict

Goals of care

Han et al. (2011) [11]

Based on a conceptual framework

Taxonomic structure of uncertainty in three dimensions

The source of uncertainty

The source of uncertainty:

The substantive issue that gives rise to the uncertainty

As a probability

The locus of uncertainty

As ambiguity

Due to complexity

Substantive issues of uncertainty are broadly categorized in:

Scientific

Practical

Personal

The locus takes into account whether the uncertainty is situated in:

Patient

Clinician