Challenges in mitigating context specificity in clinical reasoning: a report and reflection

Abstract

Diagnostic error is a growing concern in U.S. healthcare. There is mounting evidence that errors may not always be due to knowledge gaps, but also tocontext specificity: a physician seeing two identical patient presentations from a content perspective (e.g., history, labs) yet arriving at two distinct diagnoses. This study used the lens of situated cognition theory – which views clinical reasoning as interconnected with surrounding contextual factors – to design and test an instructional module to mitigate the negative effects of context specificity. We hypothesized that experimental participants would perform better on the outcome measure than those in the control group.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 11, 2020
Source ID
10.1515/dx-2020-0018

Entities

People

  • Abigail Konopasky
  • Alexis Battista
  • Anthony R. Artino
  • Catherine Woodard
  • Dario Torre
  • Divya Ramani
  • Steven J. Durning
  • Zachary A. Haynes

Organizations

  • Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
  • George Washington University
  • Joint Pathology Center
  • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Tags

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.