What is it about?
The paper explains why the mathematics with which the impact of evidence upon the support for a disease hypothesis is identical to the physical laws governing how weights influence a balance beam.
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Why is it important?
The balance beam metaphor may help clinicians and patients better understand the impact of signs and symptoms in influencing the overall probability of a disease hypothesis.
Perspectives
This paper presents the math of the balance beam as a metaphor for medical diagnosis, while a companion paper describes a computer program which allows the user to specify evidence and observe the balance between two competing diseases hypotheses, and to see what the potential impacts of unknown findings - positive or negative - might be.
Dr Robert Hamm
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Balance Beam Metaphor, Medical Decision Making, April 2014, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0272989x14528755.
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