Diagnostic uncertainty: from education to communication.

Diagnosis (Berl)

Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Published: June 2019

Diagnostic uncertainty is common in clinical practice and affects both providers and patients on a daily basis. Yet, a unifying model describing uncertainty and identifying the best practices for how to teach about and discuss this issue with trainees and patients is lacking. In this paper, we explore the intersection of uncertainty and expertise. We propose a 2 × 2 model of diagnostic accuracy and certainty that can be used in discussions with trainees, outline an approach to communicating diagnostic uncertainty with patients, and advocate for teaching trainees how to hold such conversations with patients.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/dx-2018-0088DOI Listing

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