Improving Diagnosis in Health Care
2015
Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem.
This report, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, explains that diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee argues that improving diagnosis represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative.
Improving Diagnosis in Health Care
Source:
Balogh EP, Miller BT, Ball JR, eds. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. The National Academies Press 2015. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21794/improving-diagnosis-in-health-care