Cognitive Bias and Dissonance in Surgical Practice

A cognitive bias describes “shortcuts” subconsciously applied to new scenarios to simplify decision-making. Unintentional introduction of cognitive bias in surgery may result in surgical diagnostic error that leads to delayed surgical care, unnecessary procedures, intraoperative complications, and delayed recognition of p ostoperative complications. Data suggest that surgical error secondary to the introduction of cognitive bias results in significant harm. Thus, debiasing is a growing area of research which urges practitioners to deliberately slow decision-making to reduce the effects of cognitive bias.

Source: Surgical Clinics of North America - March 21, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Caroline E. Richburg, Lesly A. Dossett, Tasha M. Hughes Source Type: research