If in doubt…

Patient of client? If in doubt, ask.

DO PEOPLE SEEKING HEALTH CARE prefer to be called “patients” or “clients”? To try and answer this question the author surveyed 101 people attending a back-pain clinic and found that most (74) preferred “patient.” Given the implicit assumptions inherent in the use of specific labels, the author advises clinicians to evaluate carefully the attitudinal implications of using a particular term and t...

Performance of the “if in doubt, cut it out” rule for the management of nodular melanoma

BACKGROUND The recognition of nodular melanoma is clinically challenging, and the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy and confocal microscopy is lower than for superficial spreading melanoma. OBJECTIVES To test a management strategy consisting in the excision of any nodular lesion that cannot be confidently and precisely classified as a benign tumor after clinical and dermoscopic examination. ...

Faith, Hope and Doubt

When in Doubt ... Be Indecisive

For a presented case, a Bayesian network classifier in essence computes a posterior probability distribution over its class variable. Based upon this distribution, the classifier’s classification function returns a single, determinate class value and thereby hides the uncertainty involved. To provide reliable decision support, however, the classifier should be able to convey indecisiveness if t...

1 Beyond reasonable doubt

T he Internet is a wonderful research tool. With the click of a mouse, you can beam yourself into what seems an infinite number of important lectures by eminent thinkers around the world. Just such an opportunity awaits if you search for Richard A. Muller, professor of physics at the University of California, berkeley. The results of such a search include a video of Professor Muller castigating...