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Showing results for tags 'Diagnosis'.
Found 470 results
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Content ArticleThe US National Quality Forum (NQF) convened a multistakeholder committee to identify recommendations for the practical application of the Diagnostic Process and Outcomes domain of the 2017 Diagnostic Quality and Safety Measurement Framework, measuring and reducing diagnostic error, and measuring and improving patient safety. This report outlines the recommendations through a series of four Use Cases – missed subtle clinical findings (Use Case 1), communication failures (Use Case 2), information overload (Use Case 3), and dismissed patients (Use Case 4) – that depict resolutions to specific types of diagnostic errors, and broad-scope, comprehensive recommendations with applications to multiple populations and settings.
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Content ArticleDisparities in healthcare exist because of socioeconomic factors, structural racism and implicit bias. The panelists in this video identify the problems and discuss what solutions are in place that could improve health disparities such as medical education, more training for underrepresented minority physicians, more funding for research, and fast-tracking publication of research. Furthermore, the panelists explore how the field of dermatology and other medical specialties can address these issues.
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Content ArticleAn ECRI position paper from Jeffrey T. Oristaglio and Jonathan R. Treadwell looking at the role of diagnostic testing in combating COVID-19.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of this Royal College of Nursing (RCN) document is to provide standards and sample assessment tools for training in genital examination in women for registered nurses working in sexual and reproductive health settings, and related health and social care settings. It is envisaged that this document could be used by registered health care professionals who would require training in genital examination in order, for example, to undertake the following procedures: cervical sampling including liquid based cytology and colposcopy taking swabs as part of a sexual health examination inserting, checking or removing intrauterine devices and IUS vaginal ultrasound hysteroscopy nurses working within early pregnancy and acute gynaecology settings and as part of any extended role in history taking and examination for the assessment of symptomatic women.
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Content Article
Alexa, do I have COVID-19? (30 September 2020)
lzipperer posted an article in Other health and care software
This article in Nature explores how voice activation technologies have potential to diagnose coronavirus infections, dementia and depression. Emily Anthes discusses efforts around the globe to reach the highly anticipated potential of this technology in healthcare. -
Content ArticleConsumer-focused digital healthcare apps are widely used for health maintenance. This scoping review from Millenson et al. examined evidence on interactive direct-to-consumer diagnostic applications and found a lack of robustness on evaluation methods.
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Content ArticleMyalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterised by persistent and disabling fatigue, exercise intolerance, cognitive difficulty, and musculoskeletal/joint pain. Post-exertional malaise is a worsening of these symptoms after a physical or mental exertion and is considered a central feature of the illness. Scant observations in the available literature provide qualitative assessments of post-exertional malaise in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. To enhance our understanding, Stussman et al. formed focus groups and listened to patients’ experiences to better understand post-extertional malaise. The authors found that the experience of post-exertional malaise in ME/CFS varies greatly between individuals and leads to a diminished quality of life. ME/CFS patients describe post-exertional malaise as all-encompassing with symptoms affecting every part of the body, difficult to predict or manage, and requiring complete bedrest to fully or partially recover. Given the extensive variability in patients, further research identifying subtypes of post-exertional malaise could lead to better targeted therapeutic options.
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Content ArticleThe National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)’s Rare Disease Database provides brief introductions for patients and caregivers to specific rare diseases.
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Illuminating the rare reality (28 February 2019)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Rare diseases
This report is a culmination of findings from Rare Disease UK and Genetic Alliance UK to evidence the experiences of those living with a rare condition. The report underpins their call for a refresh and review of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases focussing on five key areas: diagnosis, rare disease care and treatment, information and support, rare disease research and keeping the strategy up to date. -
Content ArticleFor some, the day we learned of our rare disease diagnosis is a happy day. Odd, isn’t it? Imagine having your closest friends and family thinking that you are overreacting a bit, or that you are searching for some attention? It might be frustrating! Having a diagnosis can be very important, not only in order to consider medical needs, but sometimes it can also come as proof that something is happening to the body, proof to others that there is something going on. Several people across the globe, with different rare diseases, have shared their story, telling us about needing to be heard and understood.
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Content ArticleIf you have a rare disease, the search for a diagnosis can often feel like the longest detective investigation - with no clues, lots of blind alleys and, occasionally, disbelieving authorities. It may seem like things are going nowhere, even for years. Sometimes this is because information on the condition just isn’t available and not enough research has been done; other times it’s difficult to find someone knowledgeable enough to spot the signs of a rare disease. After all, these diseases are so rare that many doctors have never come across them in their careers. Either way, a person with a rare disease can end up playing investigator in their own personal medical mystery – and in some situations even end up solving the case, or devising treatment, for themselves! Read some stories from patients.
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Content Article
NHS: Extraordinary You
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Workforce and resources
The 55,000 strong healthcare science workforce of the NHS and its related bodies, the Health Protection Agency and NHS Blood and Transplant, represent the largest group of scientists in a single employment sector in the UK. Their vast scientific knowledge and skill base stretches across some 45 scientific specialisms encompassing biology, genetics, physiology, physics and bioengineering. This knowledge lies at the foundation of the profession’s crucial and often unique role in: providing complex and specialist diagnostic services, analysis and clinical interpretation offering direct therapeutic service provision and support introducing technological and scientific advances into healthcare, and undertaking research, development and innovation providing performance and quality assurance, risk management and clinical safety design and management teaching, training and providing a specialist consultancy and clinical advice service to other clinicians with respect to all of the key functions above. The healthcare science workforce plays a critical part in delivering healthcare. More than 80% of all diagnoses are reached with a contribution from healthcare scientists. This document highlights some of these roles. -
Content ArticleNewborn babies may need extra care in a neonatal intensive care unit or special care baby unit if they were born prematurely or if they need care for a particular health condition. Babies and infants that need long-term care can be transferred to a local unit or discharged to receive care at home. A baby with complex health needs may move between distinct areas of care or 'pathways'. This Care Quality Commission (CQC) review looked at how risks for newborn babies are identified and managed and at the care for infants in the community who need respiratory support. This review draws on one particular case that had a tragic outcome for a baby and her parents. Elizabeth Dixon was born prematurely but suffered brain damage as a result of missed high blood pressure. She died shortly before her first birthday in 2001, when there was a failure to correctly maintain her tracheostomy tube. While this review was not an investigation of the specific circumstances of Elizabeth's case, it drew on this to examine current practice, systems and guidance.
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Content ArticleThis NHS Resolution video looks at three diseases where GPs often miss the diagnostic signs resulting in late referrals: cauda equina, colorectal cancer and subarachnoid haemorrhage. Clinical symptoms to be aware of in these diseases are highlighted.
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Content ArticleSince January 2019, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has been the competent authority for regulating medical exposure to ionising radiation in Ireland and receives incident notifications of significant events arising from accidental or unintended medical exposures. As part of its role, HIQA is responsible for sharing lessons learned from significant events. HIQA has published an overview report on the lessons learned from notifications of significant incident events in Ireland arising from accidental or unintended medical exposures in 2019. This report provides an overview of the findings from these notifications and aims to share learnings from the investigations of these incidents.
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Content ArticleBy understanding how physicians make clinical decisions, and examining how errors due to cognitive biases occur, cognitive bias awareness training and debiasing strategies may be developed to decrease diagnostic errors and patient harm. Studies of the impact of teaching critical thinking skills have mixed results but are limited by methodological problems. The authors of this paper, published in Academic Medicine, argue that explicit instruction in metacognition in medical education, including awareness of cognitive biases, has the potential to reduce diagnostic errors and thus improve patient safety.
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Content ArticleIn 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.
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Content ArticleAuthors of this journal piece, published by The American Journal of Medicine, present a comprehensive review of the available literature and current thinking related to diagnostic error. The review covers the incidence and impact of diagnostic error, data on physician overconfidence as a contributing cause of errors, strategies to improve the accuracy of diagnostic decision making, and recommendations for future research.
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Content ArticleWithin the research community, there is no consensus on the definition of diagnostic error, in part due to the complexity of diagnosis. This paper, published by Diagnosis, looks at the challenges in defining and measuring diagnostic error.
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Content ArticleIs the Government oblivious to the avoidable harm caused to non-COVID patients as a result of disruption to health services during the pandemic? Or worse, is it trying to bury bad news? On 18 June 2020, Peter Walsh, Chief Executive, Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), together with other organisations and experts, wrote to the Prime Minister and the First Ministers of the UK nations about avoidable harm being caused to non-COVID patients as a result of prolonged disruption to health services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, at the time of writing this blog, there has been no response to that letter Peter asks whether the failure to acknowledge the problem and ensure that it is urgently addressed, or even to show empathy with those affected, is at best irresponsible and deeply disrespectful to all those affected or at risk, or, at worst, whether it could be a conscious decision to bury bad news and avoid responsibility.
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Content ArticleWith a lot of medical care on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, Paul Landau, founder and CEO of digital cancer care company Careology, looks at the UK’s ‘next big crisis’.
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Content Article
Top 10 tips for communicating a diagnosis of mesothelioma
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Cancers
RADIO Meso (Receiving a diagnosis of mesothelioma) is a research project, funded by Mesothelioma UK and being carried out by researchers at the University of Sheffield. The project aims to identify ways to improve the patient and family carer experience of receiving a diagnosis of mesothelioma. The researchers carried out interviews with people with mesothelioma and their family members. Additional consultation was conducted with health professionals involved in communicating a mesothelioma diagnosis. People attending a group event at the Mesothelioma UK Patient and Carer Day also contributed their experiences and views regarding diagnosis communication. They were asked to recall their own experience and to tell the team ‘what went well?’ and ‘what could have been better?’. Following analysis the researchers identified key themes and developed ‘ten Top Tips’ for communicating a mesothelioma diagnosis. -
Content Article
Could telemedicine solve the cancer backlog?
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Telemedicine
Although millions of patients with cancer around the world face delays in diagnosis and treatment because of the diversion of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing expectation that telemedicine may play a central role in easing the backlog. This Lancet Digital Health article explores how telemedicine will be key as healthcare systems move forward in tackling the backlog in not only cancer treatment but also diagnosis, and how augmented intelligence (AI) could be used to help to optimise its use. -
Content ArticleIn this article, published by The Justice Gap, Theo Huckle QC discusses the issue of people not receiving treatment because of diversion of pre-existing NHS resources to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. There are legal issues which arise about the rights of citizens to receive – and continue to receive – treatment from their health service. What are those rights and what right do Governments in the UK or the health Trusts have to reduce services and not treat existing patients because of the current global health crisis?
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Content ArticleThis article from Perlin et al. discusses how a 173-hospital system used technology as a strategy to reduce sepsis-related mortality system-wide by real-time dissemination of basic laboratory and clinical data to alert teams to patients exhibiting signs of sepsis risk.
