Uncertainty in decision making in medicine: a scoping review and thematic analysis of conceptual models.
In this scoping review, the authors sought to explore uncertainty in decision making across medical disciplines in order to formulate a model describing the decision-making process under uncertain conditions. After applying a qualitative thematic analysis to the 19 identified articles, six themes emerged: recognition of uncertainty; classification of uncertainty; stakeholder perspectives; knowledge acquisition; decision-making approach and; evaluation of the decision-making process. The proposed framework includes four of these themes as strategies to reduce uncertainty and guide evaluation in order to guide medical decision during uncertain situations, such as diagnosis or when choosing between treatment options.