Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30630472›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2019

Perception of the usability and implementation of a metacognitive mnemonic to check cognitive errors in clinical setting.

Keng Sheng Chew, Jeroen J G van Merrienboer, Steven J Durning

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical education, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Physicians' metacognition in medical decision-making.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Keng Sheng ChewFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Malaysia. kschew@unimas.my.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6326-8210
Jeroen J G van MerrienboerSchool of Health Education, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Steven J DurningUniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEstablishing a diagnosis is a complex, iterative process involving patient data gathering, integration and interpretation. Premature closure is a fallacious cognitive tendency of closing the diagnostic process before sufficient data have been gathered. A proposed strategy to minimize premature closure is the use of a checklist to trigger metacognition (the process of monitoring one's own thinking). A number of studies have suggested the effectiveness of this strategy in classroom settings. This qualitative study examined the perception of usability of a metacognitive mnemonic checklist called TWED checklist (where the letter "T = Threat", "W = What if I am wrong? What else?", "E = Evidence" and "D = Dispositional influence") in a real clinical setting.

methodTwo categories of participants, i.e., medical doctors (n = 11) and final year medical students (Group 1, n = 5; Group 2, n = 10) participated in four separate focus group discussions. Nielsen's 5 dimensions of usability (i.e. learnability, effectiveness, memorability, errors, and satisfaction) and Pentland's narrative network were adapted as the framework to study the usability and the implementation of the checklist in a real clinical setting respectively.

resultsBoth categories (medical doctors and medical students) of participants found that the TWED checklist was easy to learn and effective in promoting metacognition. For medical student participants, items "T" and "W" were believed to be the two most useful aspects of the checklist, whereas for the doctor participants, it was item "D". Regarding its implementation, item "T" was applied iteratively, items "W" and "E" were applied when the outcomes did not turn out as expected, and item "D" was applied infrequently. The one checkpoint where all four items were applied was after the initial history taking and physical examination had been performed to generate the initial clinical impression.

conclusionA metacognitive checklist aimed to check cognitive errors may be a useful tool that can be implemented in the real clinical setting.

Indexed as

ChecklistMetacognitionStudents, MedicalClinical Decision-MakingDecision Support TechniquesDelivery of Health CareFocus GroupsHumansLearningPrejudiceProgram EvaluationQualitative ResearchChecklistClinical decision makingCognitive errorsImplementationMnemonicUsability

Identifiers

PMID30630472
PMCPMC6327396

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.