USE OF CERTAINTY OF OPINION DATA TO ENHANCE CLINICAL DECISION-MAKING

Clinical decision making and diagnostic testing procedures are frequen tly evaluated using indices such as sensitivity and specificity. These indices require an assumption that the underlying disease state or th e diagnostic test result is binary, which may be an unreasonable assum ption in many clinical situations. They also fail to recognise the pot ential for different degrees of diagnostic confidence. In this paper, we report some data from a clinical study of postpartum mothers in whi ch, in addition to the diagnostic result, an expression of certainty o r strength of belief was ascertained. We illustrate how the certainty of opinion data can be combined with the diagnostic opinion in order t o enhance the interpretation of the study, and the implications for im proving the accuracy of clinical decision making in general.