Stigmatizing language, patient demographics and errors in the diagnostic process (15 April 2024)

Summary

This research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine describes a multicentre retrospective cohort study that investigated associations between stigmatising language, errors in the diagnostic process and demographics for hospitalised patients.

The study found that stigmatising language in patient documentation was associated with diagnostic error and multiple diagnostic process errors. The prevalence of stigmatising language was higher in documentation relating to Black patients and patients with housing instability. The authors argue that this may be indicative of clinician biases that interfere with data gathering, communication and clinical reasoning. They call for further research to explore the mechanisms behind this and to understand how clinician use of stigmatising language can be reduced.

This year’s World Patient Safety Day on 17 September 2024 (WPSD 2024) is focused on the theme “Improving diagnosis for patient safety”. Find out more.