Biases In Medical Decision Making by Ece Marangoz

The healthcare sector presents high-pressure, time-sensitive decision-making environments, where clinicians are often required to make swift judgments. Among the most prevalent are confirmation bias, the tendency to seek or prioritize information that supports pre-existing beliefs, and anchoring bias, the overreliance on initial information when forming diagnoses. Both can significantly distort judgment and compromise patient care. This literature review explores how these biases contribute to distortions in clinical judgment. Drawing on behavioral research and case-based examples, the literature review argues that longstanding issues in medical error and misdiagnosis may be better addressed by incorporating bias-awareness into health policy and clinical practice. Emerging bias-aware technologies that account for human cognitive limitations offer promising avenues for improving diagnostic accuracy and reducing errors in clinical settings.