Impact of Availability bias on learning and decision making of medical students

Abstract

The learning and decision-making abilities of medical students are affected by cognitive bias. One of its types, availability bias, has an impact on medical students in their clinical years. In this type of bias, learning is affected by the limited available information and experience gained by students. This refers to the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events or conditions based on how easily they come into mind. In medical students, this happens specifically when they are exposed to clinical information in their earlier years. In the discipline-based curriculum, this bias is more evident in the fourth year of MBBS; however, in the integrated curriculum, this bias may arise during the first three years of medical education.