The importance of cognition for improving diagnostic safety: Salerno redux?

Abstract

The oldest medical school of modern civilization, in Salerno, Italy, prioritized the study of philosophy, logic, and reasoning. We first retrace the history of how clinical reasoning and its perceived importance has evolved, culminating ultimately in the 2015 National Academies report on diagnostic error in healthcare. The report clearly emphasized the fundamental role of clinical reasoning in diagnosis, and the critical need to optimize the cognitive elements of diagnosis to prevent diagnostic errors in the future. The dual processing paradigm, envisioning both intuitive and rational pathways, is central to current understandings of clinical reasoning. The importance of knowledge, the impact of cognitive biases, the influence of context, and many other ‘adjacent’ factors also impact the likelihood of arriving at the correct diagnosis. Medical education needs to re-prioritize cognition over content, and teach clinical reasoning interprofessionally. Emphasizing rationality and recognizing cognitive and affective bias are key. A host of interventions have been proposed: patient engagement, second opinions, reflection, improving teamwork, and using AI are all well justified and worthy of trials.