Clinical judgment analysis

Abstract

Judgement is central to the practice of medicine and occurs between making clinical observations and taking clinical decisions. Clinical judgment analysis has developed as a method of making statistically firm models of doctors' judgments. Computed models reveal the differential importance attached to items of clinical, social, or other data which are determinants of clinical decisions. These models can both reveal the causes of conflicts of judgment and may help resolve them in a way that unaided discussion cannot. Revealing experts' models to students speeds learning of diagnostic skills. Clinical judgment analysis offers a method of probing the judgments not just of students and doctors but also of patients who have shown systematic differences in their perceptions of risk and benefit. The power and relevance of clinical trials can be improved by the consistent application of judgment policies generated from both the trialists and those who will use their results.