Research to improve diagnosis: time to study the real world

More than a decade ago, diagnostic errors were named as the ‘next frontier’ in patient safety.1 In spite of this, our understanding of the epidemiology of diagnostic errors and approaches to preventing them has only recently begun to mature. Recent systematic reviews document an unacceptably high burden of diagnostic error in both outpatients2 and hospitalised patients.3 Given this landscape, clinicians and healthcare leaders would benefit from understanding which approaches to preventing diagnostic error are effective. A systematic review of strategies to reduce diagnostic error published in 20134 identified several promising strategies, such as technology-based system interventions like computerised diagnostic decision support, but acknowledged a need for higher quality evaluation of these interventions. In the 8 years since the earlier review was published, interest in diagnostic safety has greatly increased, thanks in part to the publication of influential reports by the US National...
Source: Quality and Safety in Health Care - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research