Understanding Bias… Empowering Outcomes™: Recent Episodes
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When we think of missing someone we usually rationalize our feelings of missing that special person based on a relationship that we’ve both established over a period of time. We […]
Xpress’s “Profiles of Decision Making in Healthcare Series” aims to inspire interest and appreciation in healthcare as a career and those seeking decision-making in healthcare delivery, research, education, and Public […]
Xpress With Doc X MD and Audra RN Show, September 01, 2020 Topic: Dr. Jack Phan Criminal Justice Program Director, School of Professional Studies, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio […]
Xpress With Doc X MD and Audra RN Show, August 25, 2020 Topic: College Football coach, Gary Darnell, Associate Executive Director of the American Football Coaches Association. He talks about […]
Xpress With Doc X MD and Audra RN Show, June 16, 2020 Topic: Father’s Day Special: Agape Love and Father’s Day Funny Feelings, Inspirational Music by George Strait, Brad Paisley, […]
Xpress with Doc X MD and Audra RN June 9, 2020 Topic: Former Harker Heights Police Chief and Current Director of Training, Texas Police Chiefs Association Mike Gentry regarding police […]
Doc X and Audra RN interview Tawyna Delao Anderson, RN, BSN, Nurse Practitioner from Brazos County who is volunteered to care for COVID 19 patients in New York city. Tawyna […]
Folks sure find comfort in information explained with simple numbers… the process seems to provide a sense of trust…
Certainly complex numbers leave us with math anxiety… but rationalizing that simple numbers always accurately frame reality… is a position we just have to adjust.
Called selection bias… we tend to make decisions from numbers that aren’t representative of the risks of a population we’re considering… driving conclusions that are factually flawed. Selection bias commonly occurs because our brain seeks simple solutions to unknowns… that make us anxious, stressed, or otherwise awkwardly awed…
When it comes to assessing risk and outcomes… from pandemic contagions like SARS Coronavirus 2… quick fix numbers can fool us into generalizing statistical results… that are very deceiving… So that’s why Doc… understanding the terms prevalence and incidence when evaluating the true impact of COVID 19… can be somewhat relieving…
The prevalence ofCOVID 19… is the fraction of folks who have the disease… against the entire population that DO NOT… The media all too often… demonstrate selection bias… by confusing prevalence with incidence… a statistical term which doesn’t look at an entire population but rather at the RATE of folks developing COVID 19 during a certain time slot…
When it comes to selection bias… unless everyone is tested for their COVID 19 state… we really won’t know its prevalence or true mortality rate… It’s a funny feeling to know using incidence as a simple number to tell a complete story… is a statistical flaw nurturing fear and stress… that’s unnecessarily gory…
Copyright Alan P. Xenakis, MD, Doc X MD and Audra RN 180 CVB Funny Feelings© Air Date 2020
Adjusting our decision making to contain COVID 19 through “social distancing and sheltering in place”… requires a price to pay.
Whether a student, or out of school, we’re conditioned to get what we want in the current moment… as the nursery rhyme says, “Rain, Rain Go away come on back another day.”
Current moment bias involves instant gratification, a goal hard wired in our brain… delay, change in schedule, and interruption… cause immediate anxiety, tension, and stressful strain. “Social distancing” and “sheltering in place” challenge immediate wants… dramatic shifts in routine… and abrupt changes in self-distancing from favorite restaurants, bars, stores, and friendly gatherings… become agonizing haunts.
“Wanting” is normal when balanced with patience and discretion. But surrendering to instant gratification, ignores balance, while encouraging aggression…
Our brains have reactionary pathways that under stress, cause choices to be severely restricted. Premature conclusions, that overcome more and better options, are predicted. Attempts to impose certainty on uncertainty tend to oversimplify things to black-and-white extremes…
For COVID 19, the current moment bias for most folks “sheltering in place” has shown expectations for IMMEDIATE availability regarding viral test kits, effective antiviral medicines, N95 masks, and economic and academic relief as ongoing themes…
When it comes to current moment bias and social distancing it’s a funny feeling to know instant gratification is our go to PLACE… But by redirecting expectations, when “sheltering in place,” like enjoying family, hobbies, and smelling the roses… our brain reorients to a much calmer SPACE…
Copyright Alan P. Xenakis, MD, Doc X MD and Audra RN 180 CVB Funny Feelings© Air Date 2020