COVID blindness.

Linden Brown

Commentary

COVID blindness.

August 5, 2020

Brown L. Diagnosis (Berl). 2020;7(2):83-84.

View more articles from the same authors.

This editorial describes one clinician’s experience treating a patient during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impacts of “COVID blindness” and anchoring bias, which resulted in delayed sepsis treatment for this patient.

PubMed citation

Free full text

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Clinical reasoning in the wild: premature closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

August 19, 2020

Patient perceptions of misdiagnosis of endometriosis: results from an online national survey.

July 29, 2020

Understanding context specificity: the effect of contextual factors on clinical reasoning.

September 2, 2020

COVID-19: making the right diagnosis.

August 5, 2020

Narrowing the mindware gap in medicine.

July 20, 2022

The COVID trap: pediatric diagnostic errors in a pandemic world.

August 25, 2021

An estimate of missed pediatric sepsis in the emergency department.

June 2, 2021

Operational measurement of diagnostic safety: state of the science.

October 7, 2020

Improving diagnosis by feedback and deliberate practice: one-on-one coaching for diagnostic maturation.

June 2, 2021

Identifying trigger concepts to screen emergency department visits for diagnostic errors.

December 16, 2020

Bringing the clinical laboratory into the strategy to advance diagnostic excellence.

September 22, 2021

Handshake antimicrobial stewardship as a model to recognize and prevent diagnostic errors.

September 8, 2021

Use of a structured approach and virtual simulation practice to improve diagnostic reasoning.

February 23, 2022

Using the NAM diagnostic process framework to teach clinical reasoning in computerized case presentations to 251 medical students.

September 9, 2020

Missed acute myocardial infarction in the emergency department-standardizing measurement of misdiagnosis-related harms using the SPADE method.

August 19, 2020

How insight contributes to diagnostic excellence.

September 21, 2022

Real-world virtual patient simulation to improve diagnostic performance through deliberate practice: a prospective quasi-experimental study.

December 15, 2021

Direct observation of depression screening: identifying diagnostic error and improving accuracy through unannounced standardized patients.

May 1, 2020

COVID-19: The Diagnostic Challenge.

November 25, 2020

Improving diagnosis: adding context to cognition.

September 7, 2022

Diagnostic delays in infectious diseases.

September 28, 2022

The effects of rudeness, experience, and perspective-taking on challenging premature closure after pediatric ICU physicians receive hand-off with the wrong diagnosis: a randomized controlled simulation trial.

December 9, 2020

A clinical reasoning curriculum for medical students: an interim analysis.

June 22, 2022

Stroke hospitalization after misdiagnosis of "benign dizziness" is lower in specialty care than general practice: a population-based cohort analysis of missed stroke using SPADE methods.

July 21, 2021

A diagnostic time-out to improve differential diagnosis in pediatric abdominal pain.

July 14, 2021

A survey of outpatient internal medicine clinician perceptions of diagnostic error.

February 5, 2020

Analyzing diagnostic errors in the acute setting: a process-driven approach.

October 20, 2021

A pause in pediatrics: implementation of a pediatric diagnostic time-out.

September 14, 2022

Emergency medicine physicians' perspectives on diagnostic accuracy in neurology: a qualitative study.

July 6, 2022

Situativity: A Family of Social Cognitive Theories for Clinical Reasoning and Error.

August 26, 2020

Antecedent treat-and-release diagnoses prior to sepsis hospitalization among adult emergency department patients: a look-back analysis employing insurance claims data using Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error (SPADE) methodology.

December 8, 2021

Rate of sepsis hospitalizations after misdiagnosis in adult emergency department patients: a look-forward analysis with administrative claims data using Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error methodology in an integrated health system.

May 12, 2021

Evaluation of feedback modalities and preferences regarding feedback on decision-making in a pediatric emergency department.

July 6, 2022

From principles to practice: embedding clinical reasoning as a longitudinal curriculum theme in a medical school programme.

June 15, 2022

Improving diagnostic decision support through deliberate reflection: a proposal.

November 9, 2022

Strengths and weaknesses in the diagnostic process of endometriosis from the patients' perspective: a focus group study.

September 15, 2021

Affective influences on clinical reasoning and diagnosis: insights from social psychology and new research opportunities.

October 19, 2022

Human centered design workshops as a meta-solution to diagnostic disparities.

November 2, 2022

Bad things can happen: are medical students aware of patient centered care and safety?

January 25, 2023

Using the Assessment of Reasoning Tool to facilitate feedback about diagnostic reasoning.

January 11, 2023

Pursuit of "endpoint diagnoses" as a cognitive forcing strategy to avoid premature diagnostic closure.

December 21, 2022

The e-Autopsy/e-Biopsy: a systematic chart review to increase safety and diagnostic accuracy.

October 26, 2022

Automated identification of diagnostic labelling errors in medicine.

June 8, 2022

A structured approach to EHR surveillance of diagnostic error in acute care: an exploratory analysis of two institutionally-defined case cohorts.

December 7, 2022

Discrepancy between emergency department admission diagnosis and hospital discharge diagnosis and its impact on length of stay, up-triage to the intensive care unit, and mortality.

February 16, 2022

Leadership through crisis: fighting the fatigue pandemic in healthcare during COVID-19.

March 31, 2021

The calm before the storm: utilizing in situ simulation to evaluate for preparedness of an alternative care hospital during COVID-19 pandemic.

June 2, 2021

For-profit long-term care homes and the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks and resident deaths.

August 19, 2020

Ethical challenges in child abuse: what is the harm of a misdiagnosis?

June 9, 2021

Frontiers in measuring structural racism and its health effects.

September 21, 2022

Health Professions Education.

June 12, 2019

How physicians think: a case-based diagnostic simulation exercise.

September 16, 2020

Novel telephone-based interactive voice response system for incident reporting.

November 17, 2021

Decreasing mislabeled laboratory specimens using barcode technology and bedside printers.

February 2, 2011

Lack of patient knowledge regarding hospital medications.

January 6, 2010

A call to action: next steps to advance diagnosis education in the health professions.

June 8, 2022

Care management implementation and patient safety.

September 27, 2006

Environmental changes increase hospital safety for dementia patients.

April 5, 2006

U.S. compounding pharmacy-related outbreaks, 2001--2013: public health and patient safety lessons learned.

June 17, 2015

Diagnosis of physical and mental health conditions in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective cohort study.

October 21, 2020

The impact of an electronic alert to reduce the risk of co-prescription of low molecular weight heparins and direct oral anticoagulants.

July 6, 2022

The pharmacist-physician relationship in the detection of ambulatory medication errors.

January 31, 2006

How long and how much are nurses now working?

April 19, 2006

An intervention to enhance nursing staff teamwork and engagement.

February 21, 2007

What causes medication administration errors in a mental health hospital? A qualitative study with nursing staff.

January 23, 2019

Blood and blood products transfusion errors: what can we do to improve patient safety.

May 10, 2023

Effect of social influences on pharmacists' intention to report adverse drug events.

October 17, 2012

Feasibility of patient-reported diagnostic errors following emergency department discharge: a pilot study.

October 28, 2020

Children and the opioid epidemic: age-stratified exposures and harms.

October 21, 2020

Professional behavior and value erosion: a qualitative study of physicians and the electronic health record.

November 9, 2022

Ethical considerations and patient safety concerns for cancelling non-urgent surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic: a review.

May 12, 2021

Where trust flourishes: perceptions of clinicians who trust their organizations and are trusted by their patients.

January 12, 2022

Interventions promoting employee "speaking-up" within healthcare workplaces: a systematic narrative review of the international literature.

June 2, 2021

Surgical safety checklist audits may be misleading! Improving the implementation and adherence of the surgical safety checklist: a quality improvement project.

December 22, 2021

Impact of technological and departmental changes on incident rates in radiation oncology over a seventeen-year period.

June 30, 2021

Diagnostic error as a result of drug-laboratory test interactions.

March 6, 2019

Association of inappropriate outpatient pediatric antibiotic prescriptions with adverse drug events and health care expenditures.

June 8, 2022

A piece of my mind. Trials and tribulations.

August 23, 2017

CancelRx: a health IT tool to reduce medication discrepancies in the outpatient setting.

September 1, 2021

The effects of three consecutive 12-hour shifts on cognition, sleepiness, and domains of nursing performance in day and night shift nurses: a quasi-experimental study.

October 20, 2021

Evaluating service delivery interventions to enhance patient safety.

January 14, 2009

Signs and symptoms to determine if a patient presenting in primary care or hospital outpatient settings has COVID-19 disease.

July 29, 2020

National drug shortages worsen during COVID-19 crisis: proposal for a comprehensive model to monitor and address critical drug shortages.

November 4, 2020

Determining current insulin pen use practices and errors in the inpatient setting.

November 30, 2016

Preventing communication errors in telephone medicine.

October 12, 2005

Missed and delayed diagnoses of non-COVID conditions--collateral harm from a pandemic.

August 5, 2020

Adherence to a medication safety protocol: current practice for labeling medications and solutions on the sterile field.

May 26, 2010

Prevalence, nature and predictors of omitted medication doses in mental health hospitals: a multi-centre study.

March 11, 2020

Governing the quality and safety of healthcare: a conceptual framework.

May 30, 2018

Identifying vulnerabilities in communication in the emergency department.

September 9, 2009

Improving communication in the emergency department.

September 9, 2009

Fatal consequences of a simple mistake: how can a patient be saved from inadvertent intrathecal vincristine?

October 27, 2010

Is it time to pull the plug on 12-hour shifts?: Part 3. Harm Reduction Strategies if Keeping 12-Hour Shifts.

September 22, 2010

A bottom-up approach addressing patient care and differential diagnosis amidst the Covid-19 response.

October 14, 2020

Patient safety: learning from the aviation industry.

January 24, 2007

Accuracy of practitioner estimates of probability of diagnosis before and after testing.

May 5, 2021

Rapid response team in a rural hospital.

May 23, 2012

Medication safety pharmacy technician in a large, tertiary care, community hospital.

March 30, 2016

Medication administration process assessment: applying lessons learned from commercial aviation.

March 11, 2009

From a blame culture to a just culture in health care.

November 18, 2009

Related Resources

Annual Perspective

Improving Diagnostic Safety and Quality

April 26, 2023

Prevalence and causes of diagnostic errors in hospitalized patients under investigation for COVID-19.

April 12, 2023

Advancing diagnostic equity through clinician engagement, community partnerships, and connected care.

February 22, 2023

Diagnostic delays among COVID-19 patients with a second concurrent diagnosis.

February 22, 2023

How should clinicians minimize bias when responding to suspicions about child abuse?

February 22, 2023

Using community detection techniques to identify themes in COVID-19-related patient safety event reports.

December 7, 2022

The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic.

October 12, 2022

Sixty seconds on . . . medical gaslighting.

September 14, 2022

Pharmacy leadership amid the pandemic: maintaining patient safety during uncertain times.

September 14, 2022

Implication of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Patient Safety: A Rapid Review.

August 24, 2022

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic to Improve Diagnosis. Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief.

May 11, 2022

Remote patient monitoring during COVID-19: an unexpected patient safety benefit.

March 23, 2022

Safety implications of remote assessments for suspected COVID-19: qualitative study in UK primary care.

March 23, 2022

Ambulatory virtual care during a pandemic: patient safety considerations.

March 9, 2022

Clinical reasoning in dire times- analysis of cognitive biases in clinical cases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

February 23, 2022

Health care safety during the pandemic and beyond--building a system that ensures resilience.

February 23, 2022

The abrupt expansion of ambulatory telemedicine: implications for patient safety.

February 9, 2022

Using smart IV infusion pumps outside of patient rooms.

February 2, 2022

Don't go to the hospital alone: ensuring safe, highly reliable patient visitation.

January 12, 2022

Patient Safety Primers

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Diagnostic Error

January 11, 2022

Patient, surgeon, and health care worker safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

November 3, 2021

A crisis within a crisis.

September 15, 2021

The COVID trap: pediatric diagnostic errors in a pandemic world.

August 25, 2021

COVID-19 and open notes: a new method to enhance patient safety and trust.

July 7, 2021

Patient safety in dermatology: a ten-year update.

June 23, 2021

Machine learning is booming in medicine. It’s also facing a credibility crisis.

June 16, 2021

The calm before the storm: utilizing in situ simulation to evaluate for preparedness of an alternative care hospital during COVID-19 pandemic.

June 2, 2021

Doctors were sure they had Covid-19. The reality was worse.

May 5, 2021

Patient safety and quality improvement adaptation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 21, 2021

Application of emergency preparedness principles to a pharmacy department’s approach to a “black swan” event: the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 21, 2021

See More About The Topic

Hospitals

Health Care Providers

Public Health

Infectious Diseases

Clinical Misdiagnosis

COVID blindness.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Diagnostic Error

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

COVID blindness.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Diagnostic Error

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

PSNet Log in

Submit Your Case

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Case

Continue as a Guest

Already have a PSNet

Account?

New Users

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site