6 Factors that enable diagnostic errors (13 September 2018)

Summary

Poor handoffs, lack of feedback, limited support, and a complex diagnostic process contribute to the thousands of misdiagnosis-related hospital deaths each year.

A coalition of more than 40 patient and provider advocacy organisations unveiled a two-year initiative to identify and address diagnostic errors in hospitals, which by some estimates kill as many as 80,000 people each year and are the leading cause of malpractice lawsuits.

"Providing an accurate medical diagnosis is complex and involves uncertainty, but it’s obviously essential to effective and timely treatment," said Paul L. Epner, CEO and co-founder of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.

Content

The 6 factors:

1. Incomplete communication during care transitions
2. Lack of measures and feedback
3. Limited support to help with clinical reasoning
4. Limited time
5. The diagnostic process is complicated
6. Lack of funding for research