An informational analysis of clinical judgment.

Abstract
Information theory was used as a theoretical model and methodological tool for the study of certain aspects of the clinical judgment process. By means of such a model, the capacity of a group of clinicians to process case information was studied. 3 types of input conditions were systematically varied with 3 types of judgments. It was found that the number of discriminations made by each group was close to the maximum of 3.00 bits, although the number of reliable discriminations was more limited, ranging from .88 to 1.49 bits. An increase in reliable discriminations as a consequence of adding more case information was rather slight. The 3 judgment systems were found to be highly interrelated, suggesting a common underlying response dimension. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)