Table 3 List with categories and their respective occurrence in the interview data of novices and experts

Being a novice

Learning the basics

Account of learning experiences during the first months

x

x

Complexity

Descriptions of clinical situations in combination with feelings of being overwhelmed, difficulty understanding the situation

x

Mentoring

Mentors and clinical teachers, social support

x

x

Quasi-normative rules

Following the consultant’s rules, anticipating what the superior’s rule might be

x

Patient safety

Reference to patient safety

x

x

Making progress

Descriptions of personal progress over time

x

Carrying responsibility

Being responsible for a patient; the weight of responsibility

x

Learning

Learning strategies, learning from experience

x

x

Negative aspects

Account of difficult circumstances, difficult situations during the time as novice

x

x

Being an expert

Goals

Into which kind of clinician does the novice want to evolve

x

x

Passive process

Reference to passive aspects of becoming an expert

x

Active process

Reference to active aspects of becoming an expert

x

x

Social support

Reference to peers supporting the novices’ development

x

x

Challenges

Challenges and difficulties on the way to becoming an expert

x

x

Knowledge and experience

Textbook knowledge

References to explicit, textbook knowledge

x

x

Experiential knowledge

References to implicit, experiential knowledge

x

x

Knowledge and experience

Relationship between textbook knowledge and experience

X

X

Standards and guidelines

References to standards and guidelines, assessment of the role standards and guidelines play

x

x

Violating standards

Not following rules in order to create patient safety

x

x

Being lucky

Reference to luck as a third pillar besides knowledge and experience

x

Decision making

Descriptions of how an expert makes decisions

x

x

Defining the expert

Difficulty with

Difficulty or inability to define “expert in anaesthesia”

x

Board certification

Reference to the board certification and its relationship to expertise

x

x

Dexterity

Manual dexterity

x

x

Crisis management skills

Crisis management as core competence of the anaesthetist

x

x

Risk assessment

Reference to assessing risk in patients

x

Intuition

Mention of ‘intuition’, ‘7th sense’, ‘gut feeling’

x

Limitations of expertise

Negative aspects of expertise

x

Teamwork

Reference to the social/teamwork component of expertise

x

Nature or nurture

Interaction of personal characteristics and contextual factors in the formation of an expert

x

x