Partnering with patients and families living with chronic conditions to coproduce diagnostic safety through OurDX: a previsit online engagement tool (24 January 2023)

Summary

Patients and families are key partners in diagnosis, but there are few methods to routinely engage them in diagnostic safety. Policy mandating patient access to electronic health information presents new opportunities, and in this study, researchers tested a new online tool—OurDX—that was codesigned with patients and families. The study aimed to determine the types and frequencies of potential safety issues identified by patients with chronic health conditions and their families and whether their contributions were integrated into the visit note.

• The results showed that probable Diagnostic Safety Opportunities (DSOs) were identified by 7.5% of paediatric and adult patients with underlying health conditions or their families.
• Among patients reporting diagnostic concerns, 63% were verified as probable DSOs.
• The most common types of DSOs were patients or families not feeling heard, problems or delays with tests or referrals and problems or delays with explanation or next steps. In chart review, most clinician notes included all or some patient/family priorities and patient-reported histories.

The researchers concluded that OurDX can help engage patients and families living with chronic health conditions in diagnosis. Participating patients and families identified DSOs and most of their OurDX contributions were included in the visit note.