Most patients will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, some resulting in life-altering or even deadly consequences. That’s according to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a recent report released by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Institute of Medicine. The report delves into a topic we make an integral part of our quality and risk management efforts: the importance of examining why and when diagnostic errors happen, and how to prevent them. The IOM’s report urges all parties involved in the healthcare industry—including patients, facility administrators, accreditation organizations, federal agencies, state and federal lawmakers, insurance carriers, health IT vendors, and clinicians—to work together to develop and deploy strategies that enable the review and improvement of diagnostic process, recognize where failures occur, and ultimately reduce and prevent those failures. Below are takeaways we gleaned from the report that, as an administrator, you can trumpet at your facility, or, as a clinician, employ in your day-to-day interaction with patients and their family members.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker’s Hospital Review/Becker’s Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
