Availability bias in students: From test questions to real patients.

PSYCHOLOGY of medical students; WORK experience (Employment); DIFFERENTIAL diagnosis; PATIENTS; THEORY-practice relationship; LEARNING strategies; DECISION making in clinical medicine; MEDICAL education; PROFESSIONAL licensure examinations

The author discusses diagnostic biases, like availability bias, among medical students in 2023. Topics covered include two cases of nearly identical gradual-onset pelvic pain that suggested an ovarian mass just like the test question, and a later imaging in one case that showed no ovarian mass but a case of constipation that was relieved by a laxative. Also noted is the service of each medical case to expand one's body of knowledge one increment at a time.