Heuristic decision making in medicine
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_B3A858D52CA0
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Heuristic decision making in medicine
Journal
Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience
ISSN
1294-8322
Publication state
Published
Issued date
03/2012
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
14
Number
1
Pages
77-89
Language
english
Abstract
Can less information be more helpful when it comes to making medical decisions? Contrary to the common intuition that more information is always better, the use of heuristics can help both physicians and patients to make sound decisions. Heuristics are simple decision strategies that ignore part of the available information, basing decisions on only a few relevant predictors. We discuss: (i) how doctors and patients use heuristics; and (ii) when heuristics outperform information-greedy methods, such as regressions in medical diagnosis. Furthermore, we outline those features of heuristics that make them useful in health care settings. These features include their surprising accuracy, transparency, and wide accessibility, as well as the low costs and little time required to employ them. We close by explaining one of the statistical reasons why heuristics are accurate, and by pointing to psychiatry as one area for future research on heuristics in health care.
Keywords
medical decision making, fast-and-frugal heuristics, decision aids, biases, ecological rationality, bounded rationality
Publisher's website
Create date
28/10/2011 14:34
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:22