Clinical Biases

Clinical Biases

Author: maryvy October 1, 2025 Duration: 22:13
Decision making mini-series - episode 3 - Bias

In this episode we discuss the complexities of decision-making in veterinary medicine, focusing on biases that can impact clinical reasoning and client communication. We look at how biases can lead to misdiagnosis, affect treatment choices, influence client trust and ultimately impact on animal welfare. 

We consider some of the more common biases, such as confirmation bias, anchoring bias, and availability bias, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and mitigating these biases to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient safety.

As usual, we have more resources on this topic at Vet Your Decisions 

In a future episode we're going to look at our favourite text books on animal welfare and decision making. I'm currently reading Veterinary Controversies and Ethical Dilemmas | Provocative Reflection (there are so many topics in here!) and it would be great if you could suggest your favourite books in this area. 

A couple of the authors in this text book Tanya Stephens and Sean Wensley very kindly supported the The Animal Welfare Conversation podcast in the early days. If you've not listened to them yet then you can catch up here

We hope you will join The Animal Welfare Conversation:

Sign up to the podcast mailing list  Animal Welfare Conversations

Sign up to Vet Your Decisions mailing list  Vet Your Decisions: Essential Vet Advice for Pet Owners (scroll to the bottom of the home page). 

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What does it truly mean to care for an animal, whether it's a beloved pet at home or a species on the brink in the wild? Animal Welfare Conversations digs into that question through candid, often surprising discussions with the people on the front lines. Hosted by maryvy, each episode brings you directly into dialogue with veterinary surgeons and nurses making critical medical decisions, conservationists designing field interventions, and animal owners navigating daily ethical choices. The scope is deliberately broad, covering pets, domestic animals, farm residents, zoo inhabitants, and wildlife, because the principles of compassionate care connect them all. You'll hear concrete stories about decision-making and the realities of providing a good life, not just abstract theory. This is a podcast built on curiosity and a willingness to re-examine what we think we know, challenging assumptions about standard practices and long-held beliefs in the pursuit of tangible improvement. It’s for anyone-families, science enthusiasts, or nature lovers-who believes animal welfare is a complex, evolving conversation worth having. Tune in for perspectives that are both deeply personal and rigorously practical, reminding us of our shared responsibility toward the creatures in our care.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 41

Animal Welfare Conversations
Podcast Episodes
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Episode 20 - Dr Paula Boyden - Dogs Trust [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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