Sunday, October 18, 2009: 9:15 AM
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel
Alan Schwartz, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, Olga Kostopoulou, PhD, MSc, BA, King's College London, London, United Kingdom and Robert M. Hamm, PhD, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK
** This course will be taught in two half-day modules which can be taken as a full day course or as two half day courses.
Course size limit: none
Level: Beginner
Background: This course introduces participants to descriptive findings and psychological theory related to making decisions in health and medicine. Knowledge of the psychology of medical decision making can be used to improve explanations and predictions of patient and physician behavior, and to design behavioral interventions.
Objectives and Course Description: - To understand the psychological processes involved in medical decision making by patients and physicians, in the contexts of probability/diagnosis/risk and preference/choice.
- To describe research methods used for studying the psychology of medical decision making.
- To understand patient and physician vulnerability to cognition based errors.
- To develop approaches to support decision makers based on psychological theory.
Concepts, skills, or experiences that the participants will acquire by attending the course. The characteristics of the cognitive system: large memory, limited attention span, pattern recognition ability. Differences between analytical and intuitive processing and their implications for judgment and decision making The judgments needed for decision making, and the strategies people use to draw on their knowledge in making judgments. Types of errors physicians and patients may make when thinking about decisions. Strategies for minimizing the impact of errors and for supporting accurate thinking about decisions.
Format, Requirements, Target Audience: This course will be taught in two half-day modules which can be taken as a full day course or as two half day courses.
The first module will be offered in the AM will focus on the psychology of probability, including diagnosis and risk perception.
The second module will be offered in the PM will focus on the psychology of preference and choice, including valuation and descriptive models of decision making. The course involves brief 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.
Candidate for the Lee B. Lusted Student Prize Competition
