Week 4 Forum

cognetive bias in desabitie patient

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:16:57 GMT

by Margarida Maria Simoes Lourenco Ferreira.

Cognitive bias in patient with disabilities

Cognitive biases can significantly impact the care of patients with disabilities. These biases can manifest in various ways, such as:

Diagnostic Overshadowing: Providers may overlook new symptoms or concerns due to pre-existing conditions, leading to delayed or incorrect diagnoses.

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Assumptions About Quality of Life: Providers might assume that patients with disabilities have a lower quality of life, which can affect the prioritization of care.

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Communication Gaps: Cognitive biases can lead to miscommunication, where patients' concerns are dismissed or not taken seriously.

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Time-Sensitive Illnesses: Biases can prevent timely diagnosis and treatment, especially for critical conditions like cancer or sepsis.

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Addressing cognitive biases in healthcare requires a comprehensive approach, including training healthcare professionals, implementing standardized checklists, and fostering a culture of reflective thinking to question assumptions and review alternatives.

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2 Sources

Example of Cognitive Bias in Health and Social Care

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:16:08 GMT

by Mihaela Marcela Bakos.

In a care home, a resident who has dementia often becomes agitated and refuses care. Because of this, many staff members start believing that the resident is always difficult and aggressive.

One day, the resident refuses to eat lunch and pushes the plate away. A staff member immediately assumes the resident is just being difficult again, because this behaviour happened before.

However, later it is discovered that the resident actually had tooth pain, which made eating uncomfortable.

This situation shows an example of cognitive bias, where the staff member judged the situation based on previous experiences instead of considering other possible reasons for the behaviour.

Because of this bias, the real problem was not recognised immediately, and the resident continued to feel pain.

In health and social care, it is important for staff to stay open-minded, reassess situations, and not make quick assumptions, as behaviour may have many different causes

Cognitive Bias

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:14:12 GMT

by Ortenza Alexandra Barcea.

A support worker in a residential care home notices that one of the older residents, Mrs. Khan, has become unusually withdrawn and less talkative over the past week. Instead of exploring possible causes, the staff assume: Because of this assumption, no one checks for underlying issues such as infection, dehydration, depression, or pain. A few days later, it turns out she had a urinary tract infection (UTI), which had been causing confusion and low mood.