The importance of cognitive errors in diagnosis and strategies to minimise them (August 2003)

Summary

In the area of patient safety, recent attention has focused on diagnostic error. The reduction of diagnostic error is an important goal because of its associated morbidity and potential preventability. A critical subset of diagnostic errors arises through cognitive errors, especially those associated with failures in perception, failed heuristics, and biases; collectively, these have been referred to as cognitive dispositions to respond (CDRs).

The author of this paper, published by Academic Medicine, provides an extensive list of CDRs and a list of strategies to reduce diagnostic errors.