Cognitive Bias and Dissonance in Surgical Practice: A Narrative Review

Area of Science:

• Medical decision-making
• Surgical error analysis
• Cognitive psychology in medicine

Background:

• Cognitive bias, subconscious decision-making shortcuts, can unintentionally influence surgical practice.
• Introduction of cognitive bias in surgery may lead to diagnostic errors, delayed care, and complications.
• Surgical errors linked to cognitive bias result in significant patient harm.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the impact of cognitive bias on surgical outcomes.
• To emphasize the importance of addressing cognitive bias in surgical decision-making.
• To introduce debiasing as a crucial area for surgical research and practice.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on cognitive bias in medical decision-making.
• Analysis of surgical error data associated with cognitive bias.
• Exploration of debiasing techniques for practitioners.

Main Results:

• Cognitive bias contributes to surgical diagnostic errors.
• These errors can cause delayed care, unnecessary surgeries, and complications.
• Debiasing is an emerging research focus to improve surgical safety.

Conclusions:

• Mitigating cognitive bias in surgery is essential for patient safety.
• Practitioners should be aware of cognitive bias and its potential consequences.
• Slowing decision-making processes is a key strategy for debiasing in surgical settings.