ReviewJournal of general internal medicine2019
Communicating Uncertainty: a Narrative Review and Framework for Future Research.
Review in Journal of general internal medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 94 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
94 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Improving communication of prognostic uncertainty in advanced illness: a realist review.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- Understanding diagnostic conversations in clinical practice: A systematic review.Patient education and counseling · 2023Pooled it
- Communication of Diagnostic Uncertainty in Primary Care and Its Impact on Patient Experience: an Integrative Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Diagnostic uncertainty in primary care: what is known about its communication, and what are the associated ethical issues?Family practice · 2021Pooled it
- Patient experience of uncertainty in cancer genomics: a systematic review.Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics · 2020Pooled it
- Evaluating the Influence of a Risk Calculator on Physician Risk Perception and Decision-Making in IPMN Surveillance: A Randomized Trial.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Trial
- Potential Adverse Outcomes of Shared Decision Making about Palliative Cancer Treatment: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Trial.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2024Trial
- Patients' perspectives on prenatal screening results that suggest maternal cancer: A qualitative analysis.Prenatal diagnosis · 2023Trial
- Effectiveness of end-stage renal disease communication skills training for healthcare personnel: a single-center, single-blind, randomized study.BMC medical education · 2022Trial
- Facing uncertainty in primary care: perceptions, strategies and educational needs - a qualitative explorative study with German general practice trainees.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Veritas amid Post-truth: Catholic Ethics and the Moral Conditions of Philippine Public Health.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- What aspects of clinical uncertainty are addressed by published competencies in evidence-based medicine? A scoping review.BMJ open · 2026Article
- When emergency physicians meet patients displaying irritable behaviours: a randomised vignette-based experiment investigating physicians' emotions and clinical reasoning.BMJ quality & safety · 2026Article
- Decide less, communicate more: On the construct validity of end-to-end fact-checking in medicine.Findings of ACL. ACL · 2026Article
- Surviving Severe Acute Brain injury: Care trajectories and missed opportunities.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Education Research: Learning to Prognosticate: An Educational Needs Assessment with Senior Child Neurology Residents.Neurology. Education · 2026Article
- Clinician Communication About Uncertainty During Parkinson Disease Diagnostic Consultations.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2026Article
- Ethical challenges and moral conflicts in periviability prenatal counseling: a scoping review of healthcare professionals' perspectives.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- Article
- Evaluation of Mothers' Recollection of the Consistency of Information from Antenatal Consultations with Their Postnatal Experiences.Neonatology · 2026Article
34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Discussing the uncertainty associated with a clinical decision is thought to be a critical element of shared decision-making. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that clinicians rarely communicate clinical uncertainty to patients, and indeed the culture within healthcare environments is often to equate uncertainty with ignorance or failure. Understanding the rationale for discussion of uncertainty along with the current evidence about approaches to communicating and managing uncertainty can advance shared decision-making as well as highlight gaps in evidence. With an increasing focus on personalized healthcare, and advances in genomics and new disease biomarkers, a more sophisticated understanding of how to communicate the limitations and errors that come from applying population-based, epidemiologic findings to predict individuals' futures is going to be essential. This article provides a narrative review of studies relating to the communication of uncertainty, highlighting current strategies together with challenges and barriers, and outlining a framework for future research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.