Tom Nolan’s research reviews—13 July 2023

Pulling up the anchorIs there a name for a cognitive bias for cognitive biases? The best publication in recent weeks has to be this cross sectional study that explores cognitive bias in clinical decision making. Anchoring bias occurs when we focus on a single—often initial—piece of information when formulating a diagnosis. For example, when you pick up the notes for the next patient who feels breathless and has a history of congestive heart failure (CHF), you’re less likely to look for a pulmonary embolism if it says “CHF” in the presenting complaint box than if it doesn’t. That might seem a basic error, but, according to this study, it happens. In the 4.1% of 108 019 patients with CHF presenting to an emergency department with shortness of breath where CHF was mentioned in the section of the triage notes describing the reason for visit, it was associated with a 4.6%…
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