Diagnostic heuristics in dermatology, part 2: metacognition and other fixes

The British Journal of Dermatology
E J Lowenstein, R Sidlow

Abstract

Diagnostic errors are the most common, costly and dangerous of medical mistakes. In part 1 of this series, we described how general and dermatology-specific cognitive and perceptual biases underlie most of our correct diagnoses, as well as being a source of diagnostic medical errors. In this second part of the series, we describe some tactics to combat diagnostic error. Metacognition, or thinking about how we think, is the central approach advocated to avoid errors of 'uncritical' diagnostic thinking. Current individual and medical cultural attitudes need to be modified in order to incorporate improvements in diagnosis. Algorithms, artificial intelligence and system changes are being developed to address error and improve diagnostic accuracy.

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Citations

Dec 7, 2018·The British Journal of Dermatology·S E Helms, R T Brodell
Jul 1, 2019·Diagnosis·Jianni Wu, Eve Lowenstein
Sep 28, 2021·The Australasian Journal of Dermatology·Sanaa Butt, Andrew Affleck

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