Physicians frequently overestimate the probability that a diagnosis or intervention would be helpful. Are they overly optimistic? Are the cynical correct in assuming that optimism hides a conflict of interest? Or are physicians no better than most of us at the mathematics of probability? A new study suggests we are not receiving a passing grade in that course.
Medical Decision making
Faced with a life-changing decision and a great deal of uncertainty, do patients prefer to decide for themselves after being given all the facts? Or do they prefer a nudge in “the right direction” by their physician?
For an operation -- specifically, total knee replacement -- how do we identify when the "Goldilocks moment" arrives? That is, not too early, when there's little benefit to the patient bearing unnecessary risk. Or not too late, when the delay has further limited physical activity, increasing long-term disability and recovery. A new study searches for some answers about how to find the "just right" time.
Medical practitioners and patients live in “a sea of uncertainty, where the stressful unknown drives us “to seek more information through testing” to increase our certainty. But more data is not necessarily helpful, according to an online report in JAMA Oncology examining the impact of evidence-based recommendations on physician behavior.