AHRQ-Funded Article Proposes Framework for Preventing Diagnostic Errors in Hospitals

Efforts to reduce diagnostic errors among hospitalized patients should include effective collaboration among health professionals on diagnostic strategies and steps to ensure adequate time for patient-physician communication, a new AHRQ-funded article concluded. The article also recommended framing “errors” as learning and improvement opportunities, not moments for assigning blame. In addition, it identified potentially expanded roles for hospitalists and noted that health information technology may facilitate collecting key diagnostic information following patient discharge. The article, “Inpatient Notes: Reducing Diagnostic Error: A New Horizon of Opportunities for Hospital Medicine,” was published Oct. 17 in Annals of Internal Medicine.