Antibiotic Resistance, Uncertainty, and Medical Decision-Making by a Physician - Theoretical Economics Letters

TEL > Vol.8 No.11, August 2018

Antibiotic Resistance, Uncertainty, and Medical Decision-Making by a Physician ()

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DOI: 10.4236/tel.2018.811154 1,032 Downloads 2,338 Views

Author(s)

Sanjana S. Batabyal

Affiliation(s)

Department of Development Sociology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.

ABSTRACT

I explore the decision-making process of a physician in the context of otitis media—commonly known as an ear infection—when resistance to antibiotics is an issue. Otitis media provides a unique context in which to study such decision-making because there is no culture that one can use to definitively prove the presence of a bacterial infection. This creates an atmosphere in which the abuse of antibiotics is possible. I first use a decision tree to characterize the decision-making process and then I conduct numerical analysis using fictitious data to illustrate the working of my model. Next, I show how the dependence of the infection probability, P_S, on socioeconomic variables can be used to shed light on a physician’s behavior and on the patient-physician relationship. Finally, I discuss how the research presented in this paper might be extended in the future.

KEYWORDS

Antibiotics, Behavior, Physician, Resistance, Uncertainty

Share and Cite:

Batabyal, S. (2018) Antibiotic Resistance, Uncertainty, and Medical Decision-Making by a Physician. Theoretical Economics Letters, 8, 2388-2399. doi: 10.4236/tel.2018.811154.

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