What do doctors do, and why do they do it?

Our lab conducts projects that seek to describe contemporary clinical practices, how these practices developed over time, and how they might be improved in the future. Therefore, we use techniques from history and  philosophy alongside modern quantitative and qualitative methods to study physician decision-making and behaviours, with the aim of translating our observations into meaningful changes in practice that lead to better outcomes for patients. 

Specific areas of active research include:

1.How is advanced imaging used in acute stroke decision-making, and how should it be?

2. Under what conditions - both scientific and ethical - is it justifiable to conduct a randomized clinical trial?

3. How do regulatory agencies decide whether a clinical trial is scientifically sound?

4. What do physicians mean when they declare a treatment futile, and how might we better resolve conflicts between doctors and patients over care at the end of life?

1. Shamy MCF, Pugliese MW, Meisel K, Rodriguez R, Kim AS, Stahnisch FW, Smith EE. How Patient Demographics, Imaging and Physician Beliefs Influence IV tPA Administration: A Survey of Neurologists in Canada and the United States. Stroke 2016;47:2051-57.

2. Shamy MCF, Stahnisch FW, Hill MD. Fallibility: A New Perspective on the Ethics of Clinical Trial Enrollment. International Journal of Stroke 2015;1:2-6.

3. Fedyk M, Shamy MCF. Projectability, Disagreement and Consensus: A Challenge to Clinical Equipoise. Theoretical & Applied Ethics 2014;3:17-34.

4. Shamy MCF, Jaigobin CS. The Complexities of Acute Stroke Decision-Making: A Survey of Neurologists. Neurology 2013;81:1-4.

5. Boyko M, Iancu D, Lesiuk H, Dowlatshahi D, Shamy MCF. Decision-Making and the Limits of Evidence: A Case Report of Acute Stroke in Pregnancy. The Neurohospitalist 2016;6:70-75.