Premature Closure: Anchoring Bias, Occam’s Error, Availability Bias, Search Satisficing, Yin-Yang Error, Diagnosis Momentum, Triage Cueing, and Unpacking Failure

Premature closure is the mistake of accepting a diagnosis before it has been fully verified. Its consequences are reflected in the maxim: “When the diagnosis is made, the thinking stops.” It is a powerful factor accounting for a high proportion of missed diagnoses. Several specific errors are discussed here. There are; the anchoring bias, a form of the anchoring bias called Occam’s error, the availability bias, search satisficing, the ying-yang error, diagnosis momentum, triage cueing, and unpacking failure. The last section in this chapter chapter will discuss the inverse of premature closure, the failure-to-close error.