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Previous Volume 356:1272-1274 March 22, 2007 Number 12 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: Bowen's review of educational strategies that can be used to promote clinical diagnostic reasoning (Nov. 23 issue)¹ does not sufficiently emphasize the concept of premature closure. Acceptance of a diagnosis before sufficient verification has occurred and failure to consider plausible alternatives once a diagnosis has been reached^2,3 are common causes of diagnostic error and can occur at any level of training.^3,4 One possible effect of anchoring — the inability to assimilate subsequent or evolving data — is a particularly important contributing factor in premature closure and may lead to faulty synthesis of information.⁵ The risk of premature . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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