Michael C. Higgins – författare

Medical Decision Making provides clinicians with a powerful framework for helping patients make decisions that increase the likelihood that they will have the outcomes that are most consistent with their preferences.

This new edition provides a thorough understanding of the key decision making infrastructure of clinical practice and explains the principles of medical decision making both for individual patients and the wider health care arena. It shows how to make the best clinical decisions based on the available evidence and how to use clinical guidelines and decision support systems in electronic medical records to shape practice guidelines and policies.

Medical Decision Making is a valuable resource for all experienced and learning clinicians who wish to fully understand and apply decision modelling, enhance their practice and improve patient outcomes.

“There is little doubt that in the future many clinical analyses will be based on the methods described in Medical Decision Making, and the book provides a basis for a critical appraisal of such policies.” - Jerome P. Kassirer M.D., Distinguished Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, US  and Visiting Professor, Stanford Medical School, US

Medical Decision Making provides clinicians with a powerful framework for helping patients make decisions that increase the likelihood that they will have the outcomes that are most consistent with their preferences.

This new edition provides a thorough understanding of the key decision making infrastructure of clinical practice and explains the principles of medical decision making both for individual patients and the wider health care arena. It shows how to make the best clinical decisions based on the available evidence and how to use clinical guidelines and decision support systems in electronic medical records to shape practice guidelines and policies.

Medical Decision Making is a valuable resource for all experienced and learning clinicians who wish to fully understand and apply decision modelling, enhance their practice and improve patient outcomes.

“There is little doubt that in the future many clinical analyses will be based on the methods described in Medical Decision Making, and the book provides a basis for a critical appraisal of such policies.” - Jerome P. Kassirer M.D., Distinguished Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, US  and Visiting Professor, Stanford Medical School, US

MEDICAL DECISION MAKING

Detailed resource showing how to best make medical decisions while incorporating clinical practice guidelines and decision support systems

Sir William Osler, a legendary physician of an earlier era, once said, "Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability." In Osler’s day, and now, decisions about treatment often cannot wait until the diagnosis is certain. Medical Decision Making is about how to make the best possible decision given that uncertainty. The book shows how to tailor decisions under uncertainty to achieve the best outcome based on published evidence, features of a patient’s illness, and the patient’s preferences.

Medical Decision Making describes a powerful framework for helping clinicians and their patients reach decisions that lead to outcomes that the patient prefers. That framework contains the key principles of patient-centered decision-making in clinical practice.

Since the first edition of Medical Decision Making in 1988, the authors have focused on explaining key concepts and illustrating them with clinical examples. For the Third Edition, every chapter has been revised and updated.

Written by four distinguished and highly qualified authors, Medical Decision Making includes information on:

How to consider the possible causes of a patient’s illness and decide on the probability of the most important diagnoses. How to measure the accuracy of a diagnostic test. How to help patients express their concerns about the risks that they face and how an illness may affect their lives. How to describe uncertainty about how an illness may change over time. How to construct and analyze decision trees. How to identify the threshold for doing a test or starting treatment How to apply these concepts to the design of practice guidelines and medical policy making.

Medical Decision Making is a valuable resource for clinicians, medical trainees, and students of decision analysis who wish to fully understand and apply the principles of decision making to clinical practice.

MEDICAL DECISION MAKINGDetailed resource showing how to best make medical decisions while incorporating clinical practice guidelines and decision support systemsSir William Osler, a legendary physician of an earlier era, once said, "Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability." In Osler’s day, and now, decisions about treatment often cannot wait until the diagnosis is certain. Medical Decision Making is about how to make the best possible decision given that uncertainty. The book shows how to tailor decisions under uncertainty to achieve the best outcome based on published evidence, features of a patient’s illness, and the patient’s preferences.Medical Decision Making describes a powerful framework for helping clinicians and their patients reach decisions that lead to outcomes that the patient prefers. That framework contains the key principles of patient-centered decision-making in clinical practice.Since the first edition of Medical Decision Making in 1988, the authors have focused on explaining key concepts and illustrating them with clinical examples. For the Third Edition, every chapter has been revised and updated.Written by four distinguished and highly qualified authors, Medical Decision Making includes information on: How to consider the possible causes of a patient’s illness and decide on the probability of the most important diagnoses.How to measure the accuracy of a diagnostic test.How to help patients express their concerns about the risks that they face and how an illness may affect their lives.How to describe uncertainty about how an illness may change over time.How to construct and analyze decision trees.How to identify the threshold for doing a test or starting treatmentHow to apply these concepts to the design of practice guidelines and medical policy making.Medical Decision Making is a valuable resource for clinicians, medical trainees, and students of decision analysis who wish to fully understand and apply the principles of decision making to clinical practice.

MEDICAL DECISION MAKING

Detailed resource showing how to best make medical decisions while incorporating clinical practice guidelines and decision support systems

Sir William Osler, a legendary physician of an earlier era, once said, "Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability." In Osler’s day, and now, decisions about treatment often cannot wait until the diagnosis is certain. Medical Decision Making is about how to make the best possible decision given that uncertainty. The book shows how to tailor decisions under uncertainty to achieve the best outcome based on published evidence, features of a patient’s illness, and the patient’s preferences.

Medical Decision Making describes a powerful framework for helping clinicians and their patients reach decisions that lead to outcomes that the patient prefers. That framework contains the key principles of patient-centered decision-making in clinical practice.

Since the first edition of Medical Decision Making in 1988, the authors have focused on explaining key concepts and illustrating them with clinical examples. For the Third Edition, every chapter has been revised and updated.

Written by four distinguished and highly qualified authors, Medical Decision Making includes information on:

How to consider the possible causes of a patient’s illness and decide on the probability of the most important diagnoses. How to measure the accuracy of a diagnostic test. How to help patients express their concerns about the risks that they face and how an illness may affect their lives. How to describe uncertainty about how an illness may change over time. How to construct and analyze decision trees. How to identify the threshold for doing a test or starting treatment How to apply these concepts to the design of practice guidelines and medical policy making.

Medical Decision Making is a valuable resource for clinicians, medical trainees, and students of decision analysis who wish to fully understand and apply the principles of decision making to clinical practice.

Using mathematics to make better decisions around Standards of Care, Clinical Guidelines, and Health Strategies Mathematics of Medical Decisions provides a unified mathematical framework for analyzing the unique challenges of medical choices, from individual patient care decisions to population-level healthcare policies. The text begins by establishing a formal foundation for the concepts of probability and utility, going on to describe essential tools such as decision trees, Bayesian analysis, and utility theory. It progresses to Markov models, screening policies, and prospect theory, amongst other advanced topics. The author demonstrates how mathematical reasoning can guide diagnostic, therapeutic, and policy decisions in medicine - enabling readers to evaluate trade-offs, quantify uncertainty, and design rational approaches to patient care decisions. Combining theoretical rigor with practical application, Mathematics of Medical Decisions: Provides mathematical foundations for designing and evaluating predictive models used in diagnostic and treatment decisionsPlaces special emphasis on how underlying assumptions can be tested to validate an analysisIntegrates survival modeling and cost considerations into comprehensive decision frameworksHighlights the interplay between normative and descriptive theories of medical treatment and diagnosis decision makingAddresses quantitative modeling and clinical reasoning to support both patient-specific and policy-level medical decisionsIncludes a wealth of clear examples linking abstract mathematical principles to real-world scenarios, including health policy design Ideal for medical students, health economics students, and those in biomedical engineering or applied mathematics, Mathematics of Medical Decisions is a key resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate curricula in medical and quantitative sciences. It is particularly well suited for courses in medical decision analysis, health policy modeling, and biostatistics.