According to a new report released by the Institute of Medicine, diagnostic errors are so common that almost everyone will experience a misdiagnosis during their lifetime.
According to a new report released by the Institute of Medicine, diagnostic errors are so common that almost everyone will experience a misdiagnosis during their lifetime.
The report, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, is a continuation of studies released in 2001 and 2002, and estimates that about 12 million diagnostic errors occur annually. The report defines “Diagnostic Error” as “the failure to (a) establish an accurate and timely explanation of the patient’s health problem(s) or (b) communicate that explanation to the patient.”
The report offers many different causes of diagnostic error, including:
To read more about the Institute’s findings, access the full report here.
A synopsis can be found here, figures can be found here, and specific recommendations made by the committee may be found here.
