Concepts
Health psychology/Cognitive biases · Clinical reasoning
Framing effect
What it means
Being swayed by how information is presented rather than its content — e.g. the slant of a referral or handover.
Worked example
A handover of "another anxious frequent attender" framing the assessment before the patient is seen.
In the exam
A patient is handed over as "just a panicker who always comes in", and the receiving doctor assesses them far less thoroughly as a result.
What settles it
Framing is being led by the PRESENTATION/wording. Diagnostic momentum is a label gaining unjustified certainty as it is passed along over time.
Classically confused with
Diagnostic momentum
Source: Croskerry