Session Details

PM01: SMDM Core Course: Introduction to the Psychology of Medical Decision Making

(Event: SMDM 42nd Annual Meeting: Virtual Meeting)

Oct 13, 2020 1:00PM - Oct 13, 2020 4:00PM

Session Type: Short Course- PM 1/2 Day

Description

Background

This course introduces participants to psychological theory and empirical research related to making decisions in health and medicine. The psychology of decision making can be used to understand patient and physician behavior and to design behavioral and environmental interventions to improve diagnoses and optimize decision making.

Course Type

Half Day

Course Level

Beginner

Format Requirements

The course involves presentation of information by lectures, demonstrations, and small and large group discussions. Attendees should expect to be actively involved in discussions of psychological phenomena as they relate to their clinical, teaching, or research interests. There are no prerequisites for this introductory course, but the following articles may be helpful to read or reference before taking the course: Dual process models, heuristics and biases: 1) Kahneman D. Maps of bounded rationality: Psychology for behavioral economics. Am Econ Rev. 2003;93(5):1449-475. https://www.princeton.edu/~kahneman/docs/Publications/Maps_bounded_rationality_DK_2003.pdf 2) Weber EU, Johnson EJ. Mindful judgment and decision making. Annu Rev Psychol. 2009;60:53-85. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/sites/decisionsciences/files/files/MindfulJudgment.PDF Role of affect in decision-making: 1) Loewenstein GF, Weber EU, Hsee CK, Welch N. Risk as feelings. Psychol Bull 2001;127(2):267–286. Debiasing: 1) Ludolph, R and Schulz PR. Debiasing health-related judgments and decision making: A systematic review. Medical Decision Making. 2017; 38:3-13.

Description & Objectives

The course will cover: 1) how people make decisions, 2) how the environment we operate in impacts our judgments and decisions, 3) how risks, values, and emotions impact our decision making, 4) how to think ‘better’ using intuitive and systematic methods, and 5) explaining health practitioner and patient decisions. We will cover cognitive heuristics and their resulting biases, how emotions influence our judgments and decisions, environmental constraints on judgment, strategies for de-biasing, and individual differences in our susceptibility to bias.

Objectives:

To understand people’s (patient and physician) vulnerability to cognition-based errors.
To understand the influence of the social, emotional, and informational environment upon health-related decisions.
To develop approaches to support physician self-monitoring and improvement, and enhanced patient decision making, based on psychological theory

Course Director

KD Valentine, PhD
- Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Pete Wegier, PhD
- Sinai Health

Session Fees

	Fee Type	Member Fee	Non-Member Fee
This session is free
	Early:	$40.00	$40.00
	Regular:	$40.00	$40.00
	Late:	$40.00	$40.00
This session is free
	Early:	$20.00	$20.00
	Regular:	$20.00	$20.00
	Late:	$20.00	$20.00