Heuristics, language and medical errors

Abstract

The use of heuristics, cognitive rules of thumb or shortcuts, are a common part of medical decision making. While using heuristics lessens the cognitive burden of decision making and often comes up with the correct answer, reliance on heuristics can also lead to medical errors. In this introduction we will define heuristics and discuss some of the more common heuristics/biases that may lead to biased decision making and patient harm. We will also look at the use of language in medicine and how that can lead us to make diagnostic errors.