OBJECTIVES Diagnostic errors are common in the emergency department (ED), but few studies have comprehensively evaluated their types and origins. We analysed incidents reported by ED physicians to determine disease conditions, contributory factors and patient harm associated with ED-related diagnostic errors. METHODS Between 1 March 2009 and 31 December 2013, ED physicians reported 509 incide...

Background and aims: Finding the safe location of spinal cord for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during surgical procedures is very important due to its various nature for each patient as well as its potential peripheral nervous system hazards. The aim of this study was to find the relationship between the location of conus medullaris (CM) and gender, age and body mass index (BMI) in order to minimi...

BACKGROUND Diagnostic errors in primary care are harmful but difficult to detect. The authors tested an electronic health record (EHR)-based method to detect diagnostic errors in routine primary care practice. METHODS The authors conducted a retrospective study of primary care visit records 'triggered' through electronic queries for possible evidence of diagnostic errors: Trigger 1: A primary...

The first decade of the patient safety movement achieved some real gains, focused as it was on adverse events amenable to systemwide solutions, such as infections associated with health care and medication errors. However, diagnostic errors, although common and often serious, have not received comparable attention. They are challenging to measure and less amenable to systemwide solutions. Furth...

Although healthcare quality and patient safety have longstanding international attention, the target of reducing diagnostic errors has only recently gained prominence, even though numerous patients, families and professional caregivers have suffered from diagnostic mishaps for a long time. Similarly, patients have always been involved in their own care to some extent, but only recently have pat...

This article has summarized parts of certain publica­tions about changes of hematopoietic elements, specially erythroid, during embryonic and fetal to the third postnatal life. The main purpose of this article is to familiarize medical students with the physiological characteristics of the blood system, chiefly in the first trimenon of postnatal life.  It is also aimed to prevent many incorrec...

BACKGROUND Missed or delayed diagnoses are a common but understudied area in patient safety research. To better understand the types, causes, and prevention of such errors, we surveyed clinicians to solicit perceived cases of missed and delayed diagnoses. METHODS A 6-item written survey was administered at 20 grand rounds presentations across the United States and by mail at 2 collaborating i...

Timely and accurate communication is essential to safe and effective health care. Despite increased awareness over the past decade of the frequency of medical errors and greater efforts directed towards improving patient safety, patient harm due to communication breakdowns remains a significant problem. Communication problems related to diagnostic testing may account for nearly half of all erro...

Diagnosis is one of the most important tasks performed by primary care physicians. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently prioritized patient safety areas in primary care, and included diagnostic errors as a high-priority problem. In addition, a recent report from the Institute of Medicine in the USA, 'Improving Diagnosis in Health Care', concluded that most people will likely experience ...

To cite: Schiff GD. BMJ Qual Saf Published Online First: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bmjqs2013-002426 It looks like diagnosis triggers may be gaining traction. Building on their earlier efforts, 2 a team of investigators based in Houston reports on their latest effort to apply electronic screens—so called ‘triggers’—to large clinical databases, to identify cases of potential dia...