Match each clinical scenario describing a decision-making or communication misstep to the most appropriate cognitive bias or human factors concept it demonstrates.
- A cross-covering physician is told during sign-out that a patient's tachycardia is 'just anxiety,' and despite the heart rate progressively rising, the physician fails to evaluate for hemorrhage.Anchoring bias
- A resident recently cared for a patient who suffered a catastrophic subarachnoid hemorrhage; the resident now orders a head CT for all patients presenting with mild tension-type headaches.Availability heuristic
- A clinician firmly suspects a patient has a pulmonary embolism and actively seeks out mild tachycardia to support this, while ignoring the complete absence of dyspnea and normal oxygen saturation.Confirmation bias
- A patient eagerly consents to a surgical procedure when the surgeon states it has a '90% survival rate,' but the same patient previously refused when another doctor described a '10% mortality rate.'Framing effect
Answer
Scenario 1 pairs with Anchoring bias; Scenario 2 pairs with Availability heuristic; Scenario 3 pairs with Confirmation bias; Scenario 4 pairs with Framing effect.
Each scenario perfectly illustrates a classic cognitive bias: anchoring involves fixation on an initial diagnosis; availability involves overestimating risk due to recent recall; confirmation involves seeking supportive evidence while ignoring contrary facts; and framing involves making different choices based on data presentation.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identifying common cognitive biases in clinical decision-making and patient care.