Getting it Right: Cases to Improve Diagnosis

Diagnosis is one of the most important and challenging tasks that a physician performs, particularly in internal medicine. The rate of diagnostic error is extremely difficult to measure and varies across specialties, but it is estimated to be 10% to 15% for internists. Unfortunately, these errors result in substantial morbidity and mortality for patients. Diagnostic errors are the leading type of paid medical malpractice claim and are nearly twice as likely to result in death as any other category of error. Produced by the American College of Physicians in collaboration with the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, these cases serve to encourage thinking around diagnostic decision-making, how problems may occur in that process, and how diagnostic errors may affect both our patients and us in our daily practice of medicine.

The cases cover the following topics:

• Understanding the Diagnostic Process
• Analyzing Cognitive and Systems Contributions to Diagnostic Errors
• Partnering With Patients and Families in the Diagnostic Decision-Making Process
• Physician and Patient Factors in Diagnostic Decision-Making
• Recognizing and Responding to Diagnostic Errors

Note that in order to access the cases, you will be asked to provide a username and password. Your ACP username/password is the same that you use to log into ACP Online, Annals.org, MKSAP and many other web products of the ACP. If you believe you have an ACP account but forget your username or password, you can simply reset your account. If you have never done online business with ACP and need to create a complimentary account, simply complete the free registration.