About the lab

Most medical encounters often deal with "problem-solving" and "decision-making". Specially, medical "problem-solving" often involves "decision-making" on its way to a conclusion, which is reflected from basic science research into clinical practice. Medical decision science has descriptive, normative and prescriptive functions, for example, "What roles do patients/ physicians wish to play in medical encounters?", "the integration of clinical evidence-based resources, clinical expertise and patient"s values in process of decision making related to patient benefits", "Using the adaptive processes and technology, which can guide physicians, patients and healthcare policy makers to make good decisions in practice".

Medical decision-making is complex and has substantial impacts on patients and their families. It involves important uncertainties and trade-offs. Important uncertainties include accuracy of available diagnostic tests, natural history of diseases, the effects of a treatment on individual patients, the effects of an intervention on populations. Important trade-offs include the immediate risk of a procedure versus improved long-term benefits, such as quality and length of life, a better outcome of a treatment versus a much higher cost associated with that treatment, etc. With complex decision making, it can be difficult to comprehend and compare the benefits and the risks of all available options to make a decision.

In order to better understand Medical Decision Science, we aimed to provide students with medical decisions knowledge, and through scientific research methods, to facilitate effective clinical decision making.