The variability in how physicians think: a casebased diagnostic simulation exercise
-
Ashwin Gupta
,
Martha Quinn
Abstract
Objectives
Little is known about how physician diagnostic thinking unfolds over time when evaluating patients. We designed a case-based simulation to understand how physicians reason, create differential diagnoses, and employ strategies to achieve a correct diagnosis.
Methods
Between June 2017 and August 2018, hospital medicine physicians at two academic medical centers were presented a standardized case of a patient presenting with chest pain who was ultimately diagnosed with herpes zoster using an interview format. Case information was presented in predetermined aliquots where participants were then asked to think-aloud, describing their thoughts and differential diagnoses given the data available. At the conclusion of the interview, participants were asked questions about their diagnostic process. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and content analysis was conducted to identify key themes related to the diagnostic thinking process.
Results
Sixteen hospital medicine physicians (nine men, seven women) participated in interviews and four obtained the correct final diagnosis (one man, three women). Participants had an average of nine years of experience. Overall, substantial heterogeneity in both the differential diagnoses and clinical reasoning among participants was observed. Those achieving the correct diagnosis utilized systems-based or anatomic approaches when forming their initial differential diagnoses, rather than focusing on life-threatening diagnoses alone. Evidence of cognitive bias was common; those with the correct diagnosis more often applied debiasing strategies than those with the incorrect final diagnosis.
Conclusions
Heterogeneity in diagnostic evaluation appears to be common and may indicate faulty data processing. Structured approaches and debiasing strategies appear helpful in promoting diagnostic accuracy.
Funding source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Award Identifier / Grant number: P30HS024385
Funding source: Moore Foundation
Funding source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Award Identifier / Grant number: 1 R18 HS025891-01
Funding source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Funding source: National Institutes of Health
Funding source: Department of Veterans Affairs
-
Research funding: This project was supported by grant number P30HS024385 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The funding source played no role in study design, data acquisition, analysis or decision to report these data. Dr. Gupta is supported by funding from the Moore Foundation. Dr. Chopra is supported by funding from the Moore Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (1 R18 HS025891-01). Dr. Saint receives funding support from the Moore Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
-
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
-
Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
-
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
-
Ethical approval: Generally ethical approval is captured within the IRB approval for human subjects. This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Michigan Health System (HUM-00106657).
References
1. Institute of Medicine. Improving diagnosis in health care. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2015.Suche in Google Scholar
2. Saber Tehrani, AS, Lee, H, Mathews, SC, Shore, A, Makary, M, Pronovost, P, et al. 25-Year summary of US malpractice claims for diagnostic errors 1986-2010: an analysis from the National Practitioner Data Bank. BMJ Qual Saf 2013;22:672–80. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001550.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
3. Graber, ML, Kissam, S, Payne, VL, Meyer, AN, Sorensen, A, Lenfestey, N, et al. Cognitive interventions to reduce diagnostic error: a narrative review. BMJ Qual Saf 2012;21:535–57. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2011-000149.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
4. Singh, H, Graber, ML, Kissam, SM, Sorensen, AV, Lenfestey, NF, Tant, EM, et al. System-related interventions to reduce diagnostic errors: a narrative review. BMJ Qual Saf 2012;21:160–70. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2011-000150.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
5. Gupta, A, Harrod, M, Quinn, M, Manojlovich, M, Fowler, KE, Singh, H, et al. Mind the overlap: how system problems contribute to cognitive failure and diagnostic errors. Diagnosis (Berl.) 2018;5:151–6. https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2018-0014.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
6. Abimanyi-Ochom, J, Bohingamu Mudiyanselage, S, Catchpool, M, Finpis, M, Wanni Arachchiage Dona, S, Watts, JJ. Strategies to reduce diagnostic errors: a systematic review. BMC Med Inf Decis Making 2019;19:174. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-019-0901-1.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
7. Hilliard, AA, Weinberger, SE, Tierney, LMJr, Midthun, DE, Saint, S. Clinical problem-solving. Occam’s razor versus Saint’s triad. N Engl J Med 2004;350:599–603. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmcps031794.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
8. Fonteyn, ME, Kuipers, B, Grobe, SJ. A description of think aloud method and protocol analysis. Qual Health Res 1993;3:430–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973239300300403.Suche in Google Scholar
9. Forman, J, Damschroder, L. Qualitative content analysis. Empirical methods for bioethics: a primer. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited; 2007.10.1016/S1479-3709(07)11003-7Suche in Google Scholar
10. Graber, ML, Franklin, N, Gordon, R. Diagnostic error in internal medicine. Arch Intern Med 2005;165:1493–9. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.165.13.1493.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
11. Zwaan, L, Thijs, A, Wagner, C, Timmermans, DR. Does inappropriate selectivity in information use relate to diagnostic errors and patient harm? The diagnosis of patients with dyspnea. Soc Sci Med 2013;91:32–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.05.001.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
12. Patel, K. Is clinical examination dead?. BMJ 2013;346:f3442. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f3442.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
13. Forbes, C, Weissman, C. Mnemonics: overused in medical education?. In: Training: the agora of the medical student community. Available from: https://in-training.org/mnemonics-overused-medical-education-7561. [Accessed December 31, 2019].Suche in Google Scholar
14. Riches, R, Panagiota, M, Rahul, A, Cheragh-Sohi, S, Campbell, S, Esmail, A, et al. The effectiveness of electronic differential diagnosis (DDX) generators: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS One 2016;11:e0148991. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148991.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
15. Huang, GC, Kriegel, G, Wheaton, C, Sternberg, S, Sands, K, Richards, J, et al. Implementation of diagnostic pauses in the ambulatory setting. BMJ Qual Saf 2018;27:492–7. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007192.Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Machine learning in laboratory diagnostics: valuable resources or a big hoax?
- Review
- Diagnosis of mast cell activation syndrome: a global “consensus-2”
- Opinion Papers
- Re-thinking morbidity and mortality
- Improving diagnosis by feedback and deliberate practice: one-on-one coaching for diagnostic maturation
- Original Articles
- Using the NAM diagnostic process framework to teach clinical reasoning in computerized case presentations to 251 medical students
- The variability in how physicians think: a casebased diagnostic simulation exercise
- Missed acute myocardial infarction in the emergency department-standardizing measurement of misdiagnosis-related harms using the SPADE method
- Feasibility of patient-reported diagnostic errors following emergency department discharge: a pilot study
- An estimate of missed pediatric sepsis in the emergency department
- Head Computed tomography during emergency department treat-and-release visit for headache is associated with increased risk of subsequent cerebrovascular disease hospitalization
- A diagnostic time-out to improve differential diagnosis in pediatric abdominal pain
- Development of a rubric for assessing delayed diagnosis of appendicitis, diabetic ketoacidosis and sepsis
- Between Web search engines and artificial intelligence: what side is shown in laboratory tests?
- Impact of water temperature on reconstitution of quality controls for routine hemostasis testing
- Development of an algorithm for the identification of leukemic hematolymphoid neoplasms in Primary Care patients
- Establishing a stable platform for the measurement of blood endotoxin levels in the dialysis population
- Brazilian laboratory indicators benchmarking program: three-year experience on pre-analytical quality indicators
- The accuracy of nipple discharge cytology in detecting breast cancer
- Letter to the Editor
- Results of a hospital survey on critical values communication
- Online Only: Congress Abstracts
- The Diagnostic Error in Medicine 13th Annual International Conference
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Machine learning in laboratory diagnostics: valuable resources or a big hoax?
- Review
- Diagnosis of mast cell activation syndrome: a global “consensus-2”
- Opinion Papers
- Re-thinking morbidity and mortality
- Improving diagnosis by feedback and deliberate practice: one-on-one coaching for diagnostic maturation
- Original Articles
- Using the NAM diagnostic process framework to teach clinical reasoning in computerized case presentations to 251 medical students
- The variability in how physicians think: a casebased diagnostic simulation exercise
- Missed acute myocardial infarction in the emergency department-standardizing measurement of misdiagnosis-related harms using the SPADE method
- Feasibility of patient-reported diagnostic errors following emergency department discharge: a pilot study
- An estimate of missed pediatric sepsis in the emergency department
- Head Computed tomography during emergency department treat-and-release visit for headache is associated with increased risk of subsequent cerebrovascular disease hospitalization
- A diagnostic time-out to improve differential diagnosis in pediatric abdominal pain
- Development of a rubric for assessing delayed diagnosis of appendicitis, diabetic ketoacidosis and sepsis
- Between Web search engines and artificial intelligence: what side is shown in laboratory tests?
- Impact of water temperature on reconstitution of quality controls for routine hemostasis testing
- Development of an algorithm for the identification of leukemic hematolymphoid neoplasms in Primary Care patients
- Establishing a stable platform for the measurement of blood endotoxin levels in the dialysis population
- Brazilian laboratory indicators benchmarking program: three-year experience on pre-analytical quality indicators
- The accuracy of nipple discharge cytology in detecting breast cancer
- Letter to the Editor
- Results of a hospital survey on critical values communication
- Online Only: Congress Abstracts
- The Diagnostic Error in Medicine 13th Annual International Conference
