It’s often assumed that decision making in medicine should be done slowly. As a young trainee I was lead to believe that the doctor with slow medical thinking is more thorough. Conversely we assume the faster moving professional is cutting corners. But the time in any clinical day is fixed and our bandwidth is a zero-sum game. While respecting the risk for ... Continue Reading about Fast and Slow Medical Thinking
Should We Consider Patient Bias?
There's lots of talk about physician bias. Confirmation bias, attribution error, etc. Jerry Groopman's How Doctors Think provides a great primer on how patterns of physician thinking impact care. Unfortunately there's less talk about patient bias. Google 'patient bias' and you'll find only links to physician bias. Patients bring their own biases to the exam ... Continue Reading about Should We Consider Patient Bias?
Social Health’s Sewer of Self-Interest
There’s an affirmation bias in public dialog. We only like things. Facebook, for example, only offers Like button. To dislike is not PC. It contributes to the social health sewer of self-interest. Perhaps we can thank the marketers. In social’s early history, we took our cues from marketing professionals who were the early adopters in the use of new media. ... Continue Reading about Social Health’s Sewer of Self-Interest
Doctors and the Gifted Bias
I work in a big medical school my job involves teaching the next generation of doctors. And I live with a gifted bias. Here’s what I’ve noticed: We love bright trainees. They garner our attention. We give them awards. We discuss them in glowing terms. They make us proud. I've seen colleagues work the call schedule so as to be assigned most efficient resident ... Continue Reading about Doctors and the Gifted Bias