General Statement The purpose of the Program
in Clinical Decision Making is to promote good clinical decision making in family
medicine through teaching and research applying decision theory (cost
effectiveness analysis and decision analysis) and the psychology of judgment
and decision making.
The
domain of knowledge includes decision theory, psychology, and medicine, with
input from other fields as appropriate.
Teaching
includes the direct instruction of medical students, residents, staff, and
doctors (continuing medical education), as well as the development of teaching
materials that can be used by other teachers or by students in
self-instruction.
Research
within the scope of the program addresses both particular medical decisions
(decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis) and the medical decision
making process (judgment and decision making psychology addressing how doctors
and staff, patients and families think when making decisions about disease and
health; sociology and economics addressing how institutions, society, and
culture support good medical decision making).