PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michael Trimble
AU  - Paul Hamilton
TI  - The thinking doctor: clinical decision making in contemporary medicine
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.16-4-343
DP  - 2016 Aug 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 343--346
VI  - 16
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/16/4/343.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/16/4/343.full
SO  - Clin Med2016 Aug 01; 16
AB  - Diagnostic errors are responsible for a significant number of adverse events. Logical reasoning and good decision-making skills are key factors in reducing such errors, but little emphasis has traditionally been placed on how these thought processes occur, and how errors could be minimised. In this article, we explore key cognitive ideas that underpin clinical decision making and suggest that by employing some simple strategies, physicians might be better able to understand how they make decisions and how the process might be optimised.