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03/13/26

Cognitive biases and collapse of prioritization accuracy under incongruent clinical data: a mixed-methods study of nursing diagnostic reasoning.

Milani, Alessandra; Saiani, Luisa; Gandini, Sara; Misurelli, Eliana; Lacapra, Silvana; Cafiero, Claudia; Boselli, Sabrina; Massaro, Maria Angela; Sponton, Anna; Zoppini, Laura; Mazzocco, Ketti. Diagnosis (Berl).

Collection Topics
Cognition and Decision Making
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Summary

Mistakes in prioritizing patient care during diagnostic tasks are critical but unappreciated errors. This mixed-methods Italian study finds that when nurses receive conflicting clinical information, their prioritization accuracy drops sharply—regardless of experience or education. This happens due to predictable cognitive biases, revealing a fundamental flaw in how humans process complex information under uncertainty.

Read the paper
Milani A, Saiani L, Gandini S, et al. Cognitive biases and collapse of prioritization accuracy under incongruent clinical data: a mixed-methods study of nursing diagnostic reasoning. Diagnosis (Berl). 2026;13(3):439-450.