The Contribution of Analytic Information Processing to Diagnostic Performance in Medicine

Is analytic processing of relevant biomedical concepts associated with diagnostic performance when solving acid-base and electrolyte problems? Our starting point was to question whether analytic processing of biomedical information had any association with diagnostic performance. In Chapter 2 we used think aloud to assess information processing in an observational study designed to be sensitive to this association: we chose a non-visual domain in which subjects were given lab data – electrolyte and acid-base problems – and considered analysis of even one relevant biomedical concept, chosen a priori, to represent analytic processing of relevant biomedical concepts. We studied nephrologists and first-year medical students – assuming the former had both clinical experience and biomedical knowledge, while the latter had biomedical knowledge but minimal clinical experience – to assess whether the association varied with clinical experience. We predicted that if analytic processing of relevant biomedical concepts is helpful when diagnosing electrolyte and acid-base problems then it should be used frequently and have a positive association with diagnostic performance. Alternatively, if analytic processing of relevant biomedical concepts is unhelpful then it should be used infrequently and have either no association or a negative association with diagnostic performance.