Anchoring to a Diagnosis?

To the Editor Using a database of Veterans Affairs emergency department visits, Ly et al analyzed patients with a history of congestive heart failure (CHF) presenting with shortness of breath. They found that if the triage nurse had entered CHF on the intake form (occurring in 4.1% of visits), physicians were less likely to order testing for pulmonary embolism (PE) and took longer to do so. The authors proposed that these findings constitute evidence of an anchoring bias. Several issues relevant to the study and its interpretation warrant expostulation.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Source Type: research