Have you heard of “satisficing?” I was at a medical diagnosis conference today and learned that it means “premature closure.” In other words, health care providers stop thinking when they feel they have come to the correct diagnosis, when perhaps they have not. How many of us have seen that?

I guess not.

Never come across the term but I can't imagine anyone doing anything else. After all when you are searching for something you stop looking when you find it and if you think you have found it (rightly or wrongly) then you behave as if you HAVE found it.

In the U.S., at least, misdiagnoses are the leading cause of medical errors, which in themselves are the 3rd most common cause of death. So - health care providers stop before they've comprehensively checked everything out and looked at alternative diagnoses.

I just wondered if it is used in other fields. I guess not.

This is the first time I'd heard the word. Thought it was maybe tech jargon, but I see it's a regular dictionary word. And etymonline says it's been around since the 1560's. Thanx for the vocab boost, Kalleh! Seems useful.

I should have saved it for a Bluffing Game word.