Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Foreword to the first edition (2001)
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- list of Abbreviations
- About the authors
- 1 Elements of decision making in health care
- 2 Managing uncertainty
- 3 Choosing the best treatment
- 4 Valuing outcomes
- 5 Interpreting diagnostic information
- 6 Deciding when to test
- 7 Multiple test results
- 8 Finding and summarizing the evidence
- 9 Constrained resources
- 10 Recurring events
- 11 Estimation, calibration, and validation
- 12 Heterogeneity and uncertainty
- 13 Psychology of judgment and choice
- Index
Foreword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Foreword to the first edition (2001)
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- list of Abbreviations
- About the authors
- 1 Elements of decision making in health care
- 2 Managing uncertainty
- 3 Choosing the best treatment
- 4 Valuing outcomes
- 5 Interpreting diagnostic information
- 6 Deciding when to test
- 7 Multiple test results
- 8 Finding and summarizing the evidence
- 9 Constrained resources
- 10 Recurring events
- 11 Estimation, calibration, and validation
- 12 Heterogeneity and uncertainty
- 13 Psychology of judgment and choice
- Index
Summary
Suppose we are sitting in a room, and I tell you that if you walk out a certain door, you will die instantly. However, if you remain in your chair for another five minutes, you can leave when you like with no ill effects. If you believe me, and you value your life, you will stay put, at least for five minutes.
This situation poses an easy choice. It requires little thought and no analysis, and the best option is transparently clear. A number of attributes make this an easy case: First, the choice is stark, with only two extreme outcomes, live or die. Second, the consequences are certain-live if you stay, die if you leave. Third, the outcomes are immediate, with no time delay. Fourth, there are no financial costs involved, and if anything the preferred choice (staying in your chair) is easier than getting up and leaving. And finally, you are making this choice for yourself; you are the one who decides and who will experience the outcomes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Decision Making in Health and MedicineIntegrating Evidence and Values, pp. viii - ixPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014