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Diagnostic error: incidence, impacts, causes and preventive strategies
Author(s) -
Scott Ian A,
Crock Carmel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja2.50771
Subject(s) - incidence (geometry) , content (measure theory) , computer science , information retrieval , environmental health , risk analysis (engineering) , medicine , mathematics , mathematical analysis , geometry
Diagnostic error comprising missed, wrong or delayed diagnoses (Box 1) affects between 8% and 15% of all hospital admissions in the United States,1,2 with similar rates among patients with common diseases attending outpatient clinics.1 As many as 1.1% of adult hospital admissions will involve diagnostic error that causes harm to patients.3 Nearly a third of all preventable deaths in acute hospitals in the United Kingdom are attributed to diagnostic error.4 In Australia, an estimated 140 000 cases of diagnostic error occur each year, with 21 000 cases of serious harm and 2000–4000 deaths.5 Almost one in two malpractice claims against general practitioners involves diagnostic error.6