Why doctors think they're the best

Abstract

It is often assumed that people tend to overestimate their skills. The article argues that it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you are above average in your field because of selection bias and the inherent difficulty in gauging and comparing performance across different professionals. It provides several examples of how this bias could play out in a medical setting, such as the fact that patients who have had poor experiences with other doctors are more likely to switch to a new doctor, while successful patients are less likely to do so, making a doctor’s patient pool appear more successful than it actually is. The article also suggests that doctors may be prone to overestimating their skills because they are often unaware of their own errors. – AI-generated abstract.