5% of U.S. outpatient diagnoses are made in error1. How staggering is that, you ask? That’s 62 diagnostic errors per physician per year or 18 million diagnostic errors every year in the United States.
How did we get here? Research has confirmed that cognitive mistakes by physicians are the predominant cause of this error.2 Although most medical cases are ultimately correctly diagnosed and treated, errors leading to delay may result in poor quality of care, patient safety risks, increased costs, and, in some cases, malpractice litigation.3,4
What if there was a tool to reduce the risk of misdiagnosis? That’s where VisualDx comes in. VisualDx combines expert medical knowledge, graphic design, search, standardized terminology, and the best medical images in the world to deliver concise and accurate answers in seconds, saving the physician precious time to get the diagnosis right and saving the patient from a misdiagnosis.
References:
1. H. Singh et al. The frequency of diagnostic errors in outpatient care: estimations from three large observational studies involving US adult populations, BMJ Qual Saf. 2014 Sep;23(9):727-31.
2. Graber ML, Franklin N, Gordon R. Diagnostic error in internal medicine. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165(13):1493-1499. [PubMed].
3. Graber M. Diagnostic errors in medicine: a case of neglect. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2005;31(2):106-113. [PubMed].
4. Berner ES, Miller RA, Graber ML. Missed and delayed diagnoses in the ambulatory setting. Ann Intern Med. 2007;146(6):470; author reply 470-471. [PubMed].
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