Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34739632›Full record

Trial reportAdvances in health sciences education : theory and practice2022

Improving medical residents' self-assessment of their diagnostic accuracy: does feedback help?

Josepha Kuhn, Pieter van den Berg, Silvia Mamede, Laura Zwaan, Patrick Bindels, Tamara van Gog

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–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

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Impact of performance and information feedback on medical interns' confidence-accuracy calibration.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2024
    Trial
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. 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

6 authors.

Josepha KuhnDepartment of General Practice, Erasmus Medical Centre, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. j.kuhn@erasmusmc.nl.ORCID 0000-0003-1556-2957
Pieter van den BergDepartment of General Practice, Erasmus Medical Centre, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Silvia MamedeInstitute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Laura ZwaanInstitute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Patrick BindelsDepartment of General Practice, Erasmus Medical Centre, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tamara van GogDepartment of Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

When physicians do not estimate their diagnostic accuracy correctly, i.e. show inaccurate diagnostic calibration, diagnostic errors or overtesting can occur. A previous study showed that physicians' diagnostic calibration for easy cases improved, after they received feedback on their previous diagnoses. We investigated whether diagnostic calibration would also improve from this feedback when cases were more difficult. Sixty-nine general-practice residents were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the feedback condition, they diagnosed a case, rated their confidence in their diagnosis, their invested mental effort, and case complexity, and then were shown the correct diagnosis (feedback). This was repeated for 12 cases. Participants in the control condition did the same without receiving feedback. We analysed calibration in terms of (1) absolute accuracy (absolute difference between diagnostic accuracy and confidence), and (2) bias (confidence minus diagnostic calibration). There was no difference between the conditions in the measurements of calibration (absolute accuracy, p = .204; bias, p = .176). Post-hoc analyses showed that on correctly diagnosed cases (on which participants are either accurate or underconfident), calibration in the feedback condition was less accurate than in the control condition, p = .013. This study shows that feedback on diagnostic performance did not improve physicians' calibration for more difficult cases. One explanation could be that participants were confronted with their mistakes and thereafter lowered their confidence ratings even if cases were diagnosed correctly. This shows how difficult it is to improve diagnostic calibration, which is important to prevent diagnostic errors or maltreatment.

Indexed as

Internship and ResidencyPhysiciansDiagnostic ErrorsFeedbackHumansSelf-AssessmentCalibrationDiagnostic errorFeedbackGeneral practiceInstructional designSelf-assessment

Identifiers

PMID34739632
PMCPMC8938348

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.