Main description:

This book examining diagnosis was first published in 1985. Diagnosis is at the centre of medical practice and depends on skilled information processing and decision making. Medical students, who will spend their working lives gathering information from patients, making decisions and solving problems need to be taught the necessary techniques. One aim of the book is, therefore, to give teachers an account of some of the basic ideas which have been applied to the diagnostic process and to medical problem solving in general. Another aim is to make teachers more aware of the principles underlying their clinical work, for it has been shown repeatedly that clinicians' actions do not always coincide with their teaching and there is a distinct gap between what they do and what they teach. This introduction to the fundamental concepts of information processing and decision making is written at a level which makes it appropriate reading for those who have not previously read widely in these areas. It will be of interest to clinical teachers in medical and allied health professions.

Contents:

1. Philosophy of science; 2. Problems of the scientific approach; 3. Information-processing theory: an overview; 4. Data gathering; 5. Limitations on data handling; 6. Decision making: introduction; 7. Decision making: rational models; 8. Decision making: descriptive models; 9. Individual differences; 10. Research methods; 11. The diagnostic process.