Better patient safety: implementing exploration and exploitation learning in daily medical practice

BackgroundCurrent medical daily practice relies on guidelines, protocols and procedures (GPPs), which require exploitation. However, diagnosis, treatment, risk management and process improvements require exploration. Physician are often unable to switch between exploitation and exploration. This study tested a new approach to facilitate switching that included (1) a new ‘thinking protocol’ that encouraged leaping from exploitation to exploration and (2) a GPP that encouraged leaping from exploration to exploitation.MethodTwo hundred students were divided into four groups. The groups received a set of tasks that required switching between exploitation and exploration. Three groups received the thinking protocol, the GPP, or both, and the fourth group served as control.ResultsWith each additional task, all groups increased exploitative tendency(p