The sunk cost fallacy in the implementation of virtual medical education

Abstract

Administrative decisions in the medical education are subject to the general theory of management, one of the key concepts of which is «sunk cost» – financial investment, time or other resource input that cannot be returned in the future. In medical education, these include investments in the construction, reorganization and reconstruction of buildings and premises, installations and upgrade of technologies, equipment and software, research and development, training and retraining of pedagogical personnel. One should avoid the sunk cost fallacy by not taking into consideration such non-returnable investment, when making a managerial decision on the implementation of virtual technologies into medical education.