Clinical decision making, bias

Similar to evaluating the quality of a clinical trial, sponsorship of a pharmacoeconomic study should be considered when evaluating the quality and usefulness of that study. The quality of studies conducted or funded by different companies or organizations will vary by sponsor, company, product, or evaluation, and the potential for bias should be neither ignored nor assumed. For example, many of the studies sponsored or conducted by the pharmaceutical industry to date have been academically rigorous as well as informative. A clear understanding of how to evaluate, critique, and use the pharmacoeconomic literature appropriately will minimize any potential effects of this criterion on clinical decision making. 

Croskerry, P (2002) Achieving quality in clinical decision making cognitive strategies and detection of bias. Academic Emergency Medicine, 9(11), 1184-1204. 

The evaluation of the interchangeability of two fast indirect measurements of TBW could facilitate clinical decision making in hospitalized and outpatient clinical settings. The results show that TBW by anthropometry had a moderate coefficient of determination and was not statistically different from TBW by D2O, however, the Cl were wider than 2 SD. On the other hand, TBW by BIA had a better determination coefficient but was statistically different from TBW by D2O and also had wide Cl. Both methods underestimated TBW. Other BIA equation [17] and anthropometric prediction equation [18] studies overestimated TBW compared to dilution techniques. 

PatCroskerry, "Achieving Quality in Clinical Decision Making Cognitive Strategies and Detection of Bias," Academic Emergency Medicine, 9 (2002) p. 1184-1204. 

The impact of written clinical guidelines is limited by their accessibility at the time of decision making. Therefore, the long-term goal of TGL is to optimize clinical practice by integrating Therapeutic Guidelines into decision support systems, free of commercial bias, so they can assist health practitioners at the time of consultation. 

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