Cognitive biases and moral characteristics of healthcare workers and their treatment approach for persons with advanced dementia in acute care settings.

Cognitive biases and moral characteristics of healthcare workers and their treatment approach for persons with advanced dementia in acute care settings. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/cognitive-biases-and-moral-characteristics-healthcare-workers-and-their-treatment-approach Cognitive biases can influence treatment approach at the end of life. The goal of this study was to determine whether treatment approaches (e.g., palliative care to aggressive treatment) were associated with clinician cognitive biases in acute care settings for patients with advanced dementia and comorbidities. Representativeness, availability, and anchoring biases were associated with treatment approach in this hypothetical patient case; moral characteristics of the clinician were not associated with treatment approach.