Characteristics of Disease-Specific and Generic Diagnostic Pitfalls

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Abstract
Diagnostic errors are the leading type of medical error reported by patients1 and a leading cause for malpractice claims.2-4 A study of malpractice claims in primary care in Massachusetts found that more than 70% of primary care claims reside in the diagnostic safety realm, and patients rank diagnostic errors as the leading type of medical error that they have experienced.5 In 2015, the National Academy of Medicine issued a report, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, highlighting the importance and causes of diagnostic errors and making recommendations for preventing and mitigating such errors.6 However, despite increasing appreciation of diagnostic errors as a patient safety issue, progress in understanding and preventing diagnostic errors has been modest.7 Unlike medication errors, which have been more successfully reduced with system-level and information technology–based interventions, there are no comparable single technical or educational fixes for diagnostic errors.8,9

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