Influence of perceived difficulty of cases on physicians' diagnostic reasoning.
OBJECTIVE
While diagnosing problems, physicians frequently switch from nonanalytical to reflective reasoning. The conditions inducing doctors to reflect are largely unknown. The authors investigated whether a shift to reflection occurs when physicians perceive a case as problematic, and its effects on diagnostic accuracy.


METHODS
The authors conducted two within-subjects experiments in Brazilian teaching hospitals in 2007. In Experiment 1, 20 medical residents diagnosed the same 10 clinical cases under two experimental conditions: a nonproblematic versus a problematic context. (The latter was created by informing participants that other physicians failed to diagnose the case previously.) In addition, participants judged whether a set of medical concepts were related to the case, and response time was measured. In Experiment 2, 18 residents diagnosed two cases while thinking aloud. The authors hypothesized that a case perceived as problematic would trigger reflection, leading to higher diagnostic accuracy, lower response times for recognizing concepts (Experiment 1), more time for diagnosing, and more elaborate think-aloud protocols (Experiment 2).


RESULTS
Experiment 1: Accuracy of diagnosis was significantly higher within the problematic context, and participants were faster in deciding whether concepts were related to the case. The same cases were evaluated as more complex and less frequently seen. Experiment 2: Time spent on diagnosis, memory for case findings, and inferences derived from the cases were significantly higher within the problematic context.


CONCLUSIONS
A context perceived as problematic induced reflection in the participating clinicians, as indicated by lower response times, more time spent on diagnosis, and more elaborate protocols. Reflective reasoning comprised more careful analysis of findings and alternative diagnoses, and increased diagnostic accuracy.
Mamede
Silvia
S
Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. silviamamede@gmail.com
Schmidt
Henk G
HG
Rikers
Remy M J P
RM
Penaforte
Júlio César
JC
Coelho-Filho
João Macedo
JM
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001938:Brazil; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D013850:Thinking