Diagnostic errors top ECRI Top 10 patient safety concerns list

Diagnostic errors, which approximately one out of every 20 adult patients experience every year, topped the list of the ECRI Institute’s top ten patient safety concerns for healthcare organizations in 2018. Diagnostic errors can have unexpected and serious repercussions, according to the report, including care gaps, repeat testing, unnecessary procedures and patient harm. “Diagnostic errors are not only common, but they can have serious consequences. A lot of hospital deaths that were attributed to the normal course of disease may have been the result of diagnostic error. Clinical decision support interventions can also be helpful by identifying ordered tests that haven’t been done or by flagging incidental findings that require follow-up,” ECRI Institute patient safety analyst Gail Horvath said in a prepared statement. The Plymouth Meeting, Penn.-based Institute is a nonprofit dedicated to analyzing and researching which medical procedures, devices, drugs and processes are best to improve patient care, the group said. Following diagnostic errors on the list are concerns about opioid safety across the continuum of care, ECRI reports. The seriousness of side effects and addictiveness of the drugs made opioids a top concern to the Institute. ECRI said that current strategies for coping with the drugs include comprehensive patient assessments, use of nonpharmacologic modalities and nonopijoid pain medications, accounting for patients’ individual needs,...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Business/Financial News Hospital Care ECRI Institute Source Type: news