The PSNet Collection

The PSNet Collection: All Content

The AHRQ PSNet Collection comprises an extensive selection of resources relevant to the patient safety community. These resources come in a variety of formats, including literature, research, tools, and Web sites. Resources are identified using the National Library of Medicine’s Medline database, various news and content aggregators, and the expertise of the AHRQ PSNet editorial and technical teams.

Curated Libraries

Value and Patient Safety

March 8, 2023

Value as an element of patient safety is emerging as an approach to prioritize and evaluate improvement actions. This library highlights resources that explore the business case for cost effective, efficient and impactful efforts to reduce medical errors.

Bias in mental health diagnosis gets in the way of treatment.

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Garb HN. Psyche. March 22, 2022.

A wide array of biases can affect clinical judgement and contribute to diagnostic error. This article discusses the impact of implicit biases, test inaccuracy, and data weaknesses in diagnosis of mental health conditions in both children and adults. The author provides recommendations for clinicians and researchers to reduce the impact of bias on diagnosis.

She was headed to a locked psych ward. Then an ER doctor made a startling discovery.

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Boodman SG. Washington Post. February 12, 2022.

Misdiagnosis over a long period of time can be exacerbated by stigma and cognitive bias. This news story illustrates the problem of omissions due to potential stigma associated with patient mental health issues that contributed to a missed diagnosis. The author discusses how clinician experience led to flagging of a different testing approach to reveal a diagnosis that, once addressed, improved the patient's health.

Curated Libraries

Maternal Safety

September 13, 2021

Ensuring maternal safety is a patient safety priority. This library reflects a curated selection of PSNet content focused on improving maternal safety. Included resources explore strategies with the potential to improve maternal care delivery and outcomes, such as high reliability, collaborative initiatives, teamwork, and trigger tools.

Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World.

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Cleghorn E. New York, NY: Dutton; 2021. ISBN: 9780593182956.

Women have been affected by implicit bias that undermines the safety of their care and trust in the medical system. This book shares the history anchoring the mindsets driving ineffective care for women and a discussion of the author’s long-term lupus misdiagnosis.

A doctor gave me an inept diagnosis for a neurological problem. I should know: I’m a neurologist.

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Horowitz SH. Washington Post. October 4, 2020.

The harm of misdiagnosis can be extended by lack of clinician recognition and acceptance of the error when a patient raises concerns. This news story shares the experience of a physician-patient whose recognition of a diagnostic mistake was initially dismissed. The author defines the repeated lack of organizational willingness to resolve the situation as a normalized deviance in health care.

‘You’re going to release him when he was hurting himself?’

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Dahlberg B. Kaiser Health News. September 29, 2020.

This story discusses failures related emergency psychiatric assessment, including premature discharge, implicit bias, patient management discontinuity and inappropriate physical restraint that contributed to the death of a patient at risk for suicide.

Doctors turned my sister away; less than two years later she died of cervical cancer.

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Harvey-Jenner C. Cosmopolitan. August 27, 2020.

Implicit biases are known to impact effective diagnosis. This story highlights how dismissed concerns resulted in a delay in cancer diagnosis that contributed to the death of a young woman.

Inadequate Emergency Department Care and Physician Misconduct at the Washington DC VA Medical Center.

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Office of the Inspector General. Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs; July 28, 2020. Report Number 19-07507-214.

Patient suicide is a never event. This report analyzes the death of a veteran after presenting at an emergency room with suicidal ideation. The analysis found lack of both suicide prevention policy adherence and appropriate assessment, as well as a lack concern for the patient’s condition contributed to the failure.

Second opinions improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs.

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Hébert AR. Employee Benefit News. 2020;June 8.

Second opinions are a strategy for reducing diagnostic or treatment errors. This article outlines reasons why patients seek additional expert opinion when determining a course of action and discusses non-clinical benefits of the practice.

People with disabilities fear pandemic will worsen medical biases.

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Shaprio J. National Public Radio. April 15, 2020.

Access to care has been strained by the COVID-19 pandemic. This radio segment discusses how implicit biases can affect care of patients with disabilities. It highlights how preconceptions about this patient population could limit their access to treatments should they become ill.

Inside the epidemic of misdiagnosed women.

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Rabbitt M. Prevention Magazine. April 9, 2020.

Diagnosis in women is complicated by cultural norms, lack of research on medical conditions affecting women, and implicit bias. The article outlines conditions that are likely to be misdiagnosed in women such as heart disease and breast cancer. The author shares strategies for women to engage in the process to improve diagnostic accuracy.

For 4 days, the hospital thought he had just pneumonia. It was coronavirus.

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Goldstein J, Salcedo A. New York Times. 2020;March 10.

Conditions new to physicians can be difficult to diagnosis. This news story illustrates how heuristics or lack of awareness of emergent and unique diseases can contribute to transmission of infection.

Artificial intelligence makes bad medicine even worse.

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Aschwanden C. Wired Magazine. January 10, 2020.

The unintended consequences of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare continue to generate clinician concern. This magazine piece examines the potential diagnostic improvements to be realized from AI while cautioning about its premature use generating overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

What Happens When Doctors Make Diagnostic Errors?

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The Peoples Pharmacy. Show 1186: National Public Radio. October 24, 2019.

Misdiagnosis growing area of concern in health care. This radio feature explores three commonly misdiagnosed conditions to share areas of weakness and improvement opportunities. The piece recommends actions for patients and physicians to enhance diagnostic accuracy that include enhancing teamwork, data analysis and encouraging patients to ask questions.

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