Medical Decision Making

In JAMA Oncology, David Shalowitz and John Schorge (Massachusetts General Hospital), assess the degree to which oncologists’ clinical estimates might be biased by extraneous information. For their study the authors sent surveys of different clinical scenarios to members of the New England and Mid-Atlantic Association of Gynecological Oncologists. Respondents were asked to assess the scenarios and provide an estimated life expectancy, evaluate other providers’ assessments, and indicate what treatments they would opt for. Results of the study show that clinicians are influenced by anchoring...

In JAMA Pediatrics, Rinad Beidas and colleagues explore the effects of individual and organizational characteristics on therapists’ self-reported use of different therapy techniques - cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), family therapy, and psychodynamic therapy techniques. The study focuses on the Philadelphia public mental health system, currently engaged in a large-scale effort to increase the use of CBT. The study results show that although both individual and organizational factors are important, the relative significance of the factors varies by treatment type. Key findings include...

In a commentary in Research in Gerontological Nursing, Kathryn Bowles and colleagues look at how nurse scientists are using health information technology, such as electronic health records (EHR) and decision support, to improve care. They highlight positive research findings, including that integrated EHR systems reduced hospital-acquired pressure ulcers by 13 percent. Or how the use of a discharge decision support system helped to identify whether older adults were likely to need post-acute services, such as skilled home care or skilled nursing facility care. Use of the system,...

In Health Care Management Science, Dylan Small, Scott Lorch and colleagues discuss different mechanisms of risk adjustment used in hospital performance evaluations. Accurate risk adjustment is critical to the reliable assessment and comparison of hospitals. Hospitals are commonly assessed using evaluations that measure their actual outcomes as compared to their risk-adjusted expected outcomes, which take into account factors like patient mix in order to compare hospitals on a level playing field. The authors propose ensemble of trees approaches as superior alternatives to the logistic...