Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making
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To test the hypothesis that nearest-neighbor analysis adds to logistic regression in the early diagnosis of late-onset neonatal sepsis. ⋯ The authors propose nearest-neighbor analysis in addition to regression in the early diagnosis of subacute, potentially catastrophic illnesses such as neonatal sepsis, and they recommend it as an approach to the general problem of predicting a clinical event from a multivariable data set.
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Systematic reviews of healthcare disparities suggest that clinicians' diagnostic and therapeutic decision making varies by clinically irrelevant characteristics, such as patient race, and that this variation may contribute to healthcare disparities. However, there is little understanding of the particular features of the healthcare setting under which clinicians are most likely to be inappropriately influenced by these characteristics. This study delineates several hypotheses to stimulate future research in this area. ⋯ It is further hypothesized that certain characteristics of healthcare settings will result in higher levels of cognitive load experienced by providers (H3). Finally, it is hypothesized that minority patients will be disproportionately likely to be treated in healthcare settings in which providers experience greater levels of cognitive load (H4a), which will result in racial disparities due to lower levels of controlled processing by providers (H4b) and the influence of racial stereotypes (H4c). The study concludes with implications for research and practice that flow from this framework.
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Aircraft noise disturbs sleep and impairs recuperation. Authorities plan to expand Frankfurt airport. ⋯ According to the decision analysis, it is unlikely that the proposed curfew at Frankfurt Airport substantially benefits sleep structure. Extensions of the model could be used to evaluate or propose alternative air traffic regulation strategies for Frankfurt Airport.