Measuring & Preventing Diagnostic Errors

Richard Zamore, MD, MPH, is a rheumatologist at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, Mass., and completed a rheumatology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

References

Khorana MM, Khorana AA. Measuring quality. JAMA. 2019 Dec 3;322(21):2077–2078.
Baolgh EP, Miller BT, Ball JR (eds). (2015) Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
Singh H, Sittig DF. Advancing the science of measurement of diagnostic errors in healthcare: The Safer Dx framework. BMJ Qual Saf. 2015 Feb;24(2):103–110.

Note: This article is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the ACR or The Rheumatologist.

The 1999 Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human gave a sobering depiction of the magnitude and consequences of medical error.1 The report concluded that approximately 98,000 people die in hospitals annually due to preventable medical errors. Of all the errors detailed in this report, diagnostic errors have since been determined to be the…

Case Ms. A is an 82-year-old woman who presented to the rheumatology office for evaluation of osteoporosis. She had been diagnosed with postmenopausal osteoporosis at age 62 after sustaining a right wrist fracture. She was started on alendronate 70 mg weekly and reported medication compliance. At age 79, she sustained an atraumatic right femur fracture….

The Institute of Medicine has reported that each year up to 98,000 deaths result from iatrogenic injury and error.1 Autopsy series have suggested a 15% error rate in the practice of medicine. These numbers are surprising and concerning and raise important questions about how we practice medicine. What kind of errors do we make as…

On Dec. 27, 2017, RaDonda Vaught killed Charlene Murphey, allegedly. Ms. Murphey was a lifelong resident of Gallatin, a suburb of Nashville, Tenn. She was well known from having worked at the local Walmart for 24 years, before she retired in 2012, when she was 65 years old.1 ad goes here:advert-1ADVERTISEMENTSCROLL TO CONTINUEOn Dec. 24,…

References

How to Avoid Cognitive Errors in Rheumatology

Ethics Forum: A Physician’s Medical Error & the Patient’s Right to Know

How a Rheumatologist Thinks: Cognition and Diagnostic Errors in Rheumatology

Set Up to Fail: The Criminalization of Clinical Practice

References

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