Collaborative Research: The Reluctance to Use Decision Aids

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

Four experiments will be run in order to investigate why professions are reluctant to use decision aids. In the first study patients in a waiting room of a clinic will read various versions of a scenario in which a doctor either does or does not use an aid in making a diagnosis. We will assess the patients' opinion concerning the competence of the physician in each scenario, the hypothesis being that doctors who use a decision aid might be perceived as less capable than physicians who eschew the use of an aid. We will also assess the opinion of doctors concerning their colleagues who do or don't use decision aids in making diagnoses. In the second study a videotape of a malpractice trial will be shown to community members. In the trial the defendant, a physician, either did or didn't use a decision aid in making a diagnosis that led to an adverse outcome. The viewers of the videotape will decide whether the physician is guilty of malpractice. Doctors will also watch the tape and will render an opinion concerning the physician and will also predict the verdict of the jurors. We are interested in whether using a decision aid either insulates a physician from or exposes a physician to negative malpractice verdicts. The third study is similar to the second. However in this study a mental health professional described in a scenario will be make a judgment about the dangerousness of an inpatient in order to determine whether he should be released. In some versions of the scenario the professional uses a decision aid; in some an aid is not used. An adverse outcome occurs in all cases. Mental health professionals will decide whether the professional described in the scenario acted responsibly. In the final study emergency room physicians will read a case describing a disease and will render a diagnosis. They will also express their confidence in their diagnosis, and they will decide whether they wish to use a decision aid. We predict that the more confident physicians will eschew the use of the aid. The goal of all studies is to discover reasons why professional decision makers refuse to use aids which would heighten the accuracy of their decisions. ABSTRACT Principal investigator: Douglas, Kevin Institution: University of South Florida Proposal ID : 0326490 Proposal Title: Collaborative Research: The Reluctance to Use Decision Aids Four experiments will be run in order to investigate why professions are reluctant to use decision aids. In the first study patients in a waiting room of a clinic will read various versions of a scenario in which a doctor either does or does not use an aid in making a diagnosis. We will assess the patients' opinion concerning the competence of the physician in each scenario, the hypothesis being that doctors who use a decision aid might be perceived as less capable than physicians who eschew the use of an aid. We will also assess the opinion of doctors concerning their colleagues who do or don't use decision aids in making diagnoses. In the second study a videotape of a malpractice trial will be shown to community members. In the trial the defendant, a physician, either did or didn't use a decision aid in making a diagnosis that led to an adverse outcome. The viewers of the videotape will decide whether the physician is guilty of malpractice. Doctors will also watch the tape and will render an opinion concerning the physician and will also predict the verdict of the jurors. We are interested in whether using a decision aid either insulates a physician from or exposes a physician to negative malpractice verdicts. The third study is similar to the second. However in this study a mental health professional described in a scenario will be make a judgment about the dangerousness of an inpatient in order to determine whether he should be released. In some versions of the scenario the professional uses a decision aid; in some an aid is not used. An adverse outcome occurs in all cases. Mental health professionals will decide whether the professional described in the scenario acted responsibly. In the final study emergency room physicians will read a case describing a disease and will render a diagnosis. They will also express their confidence in their diagnosis, and they will decide whether they wish to use a decision aid. We predict that the more confident physicians will eschew the use of the aid. The goal of all studies is to discover reasons why professional decision makers refuse to use aids which would heighten the accuracy of their decisions.