Learning from patients’ experiences related to diagnostic errors is essential for progress in patient safety (November 2018)

Summary

Diagnostic error research has largely focused on individual clinicians’ decision making and system design, largely overlooking information from patients. This article in the journal Health Affairs analysed a unique data source of patient- and family-reported error narratives to explore factors that contribute to diagnostic errors.

The analysis identified 224 instances of behavioural and interpersonal factors that reflected unprofessional clinician behaviour, including ignoring patients’ knowledge, disrespecting patients, failing to communicate and manipulation or deception. The authors concluded that patients’ perspectives can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of why diagnostic errors occur and help develop strategies for mitigation. They argue that health systems should develop and implement formal programs to collect patients’ experiences with the diagnostic process and use these data to promote an organisational culture that strives to reduce harm from diagnostic error.