Perspectives on Clinical Decision Making, by Suzanne B. Knoebel, MD, is an excellent introductory text on the subject of decision analysis.
In this era of cost containment, diagnosis related groups, and quality and utilization controls, the discipline of decision analysis and probability theory as related to medicine is of major importance if we are to be able to communicate quantitatively among ourselves and with others who are responsible for the provision of health care in our country.
The author uses a concise literary style in giving her readers a conceptualization of what decision analysis is and how it relates to diagnosis, alternative therapies, and cost-effectiveness. The book is designed for the physician who wishes to be conversant in the subject of decision analysis. It is not an in-depth mathematical treatise using flow charts, decision trees, or Boolean algebra. It does allow the reader to understand probability and decision making and