Responding to the 2015 Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that placed a public spotlight on the issue of diagnostic accuracy, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) recently brought together experts to address the issue.
According to the IOM report, diagnostic errors play a role in roughly 10% of patient deaths and 6-17% of adverse events in hospital settings. Defining 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 IOM report characterizes diagnosis as a process in which every patient and healthcare professional must be an active and engaged participant.
The ABMS and NPSF focused attention on diagnostic errors with the Summit on Certification & Diagnostic Accuracy, which brought together experts from many fields to explore the cause of diagnostic error; the competencies essential to quality patient care; and the ways that certification, by engaging physicians in assessment and learning, can further reduce the risk of error. The summit report includes the presentations, discussions, and insights on how healthcare professionals can work together to improve diagnostic accuracy. The report is available to readers online at http://tinyurl.com/jkwhtqu.
