RT Book, Section
A1 Schiff, Gordon D.
A1 Graber, Mark L.
A2 McKean, Sylvia C.
A2 Ross, John J.
A2 Dressler, Daniel D.
A2 Brotman, Daniel J.
A2 Ginsberg, Jeffrey S.
SR Print(0)
ID 56191429
T1 Chapter 8. Diagnostic Errors
T2 Principles and Practice of Hospital Medicine
YR 2012
FD 2012
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-160389-8
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=56191429
RD 2024/10/07
AB A  diagnostic  error  is  any  mistake  or  failure  in  the  diagnostic  process  leading  to  a  misdiagnosis,  a  missed  diagnosis,  or  a  delayed  diagnosis.  This  is  an  operational  definition  that  includes  any  failures  in  the  process  of  care,  including  timely  access  in  eliciting  or  interpreting  symptoms,  signs,  or  laboratory  results;  formulating  and  weighing  differential  diagnosis;  or  lack  of  timely  follow-up  and  specialty  referral  and  evaluation.  A  diagnostic  error  is  a  construct  that  is  usually  based  on  reference  to  a  subsequent  test,  clinical  outcome,  consultant's  diagnosis,  or  autopsy—gold  standards  that  are  themselves  often  imperfect  or  unavailable.  Errors  in  diagnosis-related  processes  are  ubiquitous,  ranging  from  a  trivial  failure  to  ask  an  “insignificant”  historical  question  to  overlooking  minor  lab  abnormalities,  to  switching  specimens  between  two  patients,  to  more  serious  errors  in  interpretation  of  data,  which  may  or  may  not  have  adverse  clinical  consequences  in  terms  of  labeling  a  patient  with  an  erroneous  diagnosis  or  impacting  clinical  actions  or  outcomes.  Detecting  diagnostic  errors  is  critical  to  correction  of  the  ongoing  care  for  a  current  patient,  as  well  as  for  learning  how  to  avoid  similar  errors  in  the  future.