The Influence of Cognitive Heuristics and Biases on Palliative Social Workers' Support of Patient and Caregiver Decision Making: The Pulse Oximeter Buying Trend during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

A phenomenon occurring early in the pandemic involving media-based recommendations of pulse oximeters, devices purported to detect a dangerous Covid-19 symptom, invites attention to effects of decision-making shortcuts, or cognitive heuristics, and associated cognitive biases or errors, on patient/caregiver healthcare decisions. Heuristics also affect palliative/medical social workers' recommendations to patients/caregivers. This article looks at availability, confirmation, affect, false consensus and framing biases, and suggestions for debiasing decision making. Implications for other healthcare decisions are considered.