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.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 275 Results

Prosocial voice in the hierarchy of healthcare professionals: the role of emotions after harmful patient safety incidents.

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Richmond JG, Burgess N. J Health Organ Manag. 2023;Epub Feb 28.

Healthcare professionals who are involved in patient safety incidents can experience psychological distress. Using three case examples from surgery, urology, and maternity care, this study explored the emotional experience of healthcare professionals involved in patient safety incidents. The authors discuss the importance of providing support for recovery after involvement in a patient safety incident and protecting professionals from workplace pressures.

Difficult diagnosis in the ICU: making the right call but beware uncertainty and bias.

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Pisciotta W, Arina P, Hofmaenner D, et al. Anaesthesia. 2023;78:501-509.

A 2012 review estimated that diagnostic errors in the intensive care unit (ICU) may contribute to up to 8% of patient deaths. This narrative review identifies common causes of diagnostic error (e.g., cognitive bias) and suggests a diagnostic framework. Cognitive de-biasing strategies and increasing time spent with the patient are recommended as strategies for reducing diagnostic errors in this vulnerable patient population.

Crowding in the Emergency Department: Challenges for the Care of Children.

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Gross TK, Lane NE, Timm NL, et al. Pediatrics. 2023;151:e2022060971-e2022060972.

Emergency room crowding is a persistent factor that degrades safety for patients of all ages. This collection provides background, best practices, and recommendations to reduce emergency department crowding and its negative impact on pediatric care. The publications examine factors that influence crowding and improvement at the input, departmental, and hospital/outpatient stages of emergency care.

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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.

Risk assessment of the acute stroke diagnostic process using failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis.

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Liberman AL, Holl JL, Romo E, et al. Acad Emerg Med. 2022;30:187-195.

A missed or delayed diagnosis of stroke places patients at risk of permanent disability or death. This article describes how interdisciplinary teams used a failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) to create an acute stroke diagnostic process map, identify failures, and highlight existing safeguards. The FMECA process identified several steps in the diagnostic process as the most critical failures to address, including failure to screen patients for stroke soon after presentation to the Emergency Department (ED), failure to obtain an accurate history, and failure to consider a stroke diagnosis during triage.

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

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Freund O, Azolai L, Sror N, et al. J Hosp Med. 2023;Epub Feb 13.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented numbers of patients seen in the emergency department (ED), some who had COVID-19, some who had a different diagnosis, and some who had both. This study analyzes patients who presented to the ED with COVID-19 and signs of another diagnosis that was missed. Approximately one-third of patients with a second concurrent diagnosis experienced a diagnostic delay. Factors that may have influenced the missed diagnosis include ED overcrowding and anchoring heuristics.

Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes identified by a novel electronic medical record diabetes screening program in an urban emergency department in the US.

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Danielson KK, Rydzon B, Nicosia M, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6:e2253275.

Patients with diabetes may not be aware of their condition and therefore may not seek timely care. In this pilot study, patients presenting to the emergency department at risk of type 2 diabetes were flagged by the electronic health record. Clinicians could then add hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) to scheduled blood draws. Of the patients with elevated HbA1c levels contacted by study staff, three-quarters were not aware of a previous diabetes diagnosis.

Misdiagnosis in the emergency department: time for a system solution.

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Edlow JA, Pronovost PJ. JAMA. 2023;329:631-632.

Medical errors should be examined in the context of system failure to generate lasting opportunities for learning and improvement. This commentary discusses the AHRQ 2022 report entitled Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: a Systematic Review and suggests a focus on care delivery processes over individuals, definitions, error rate review, and system design as noteworthy approaches to error reduction.

Patient and hospital characteristics associated with delayed diagnosis of appendicitis.

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Reyes AM, Royan R, Feinglass J, et al. JAMA Surg. 2023;Epub Jan 18.

Delays in diagnosis and treatment can lead to poor outcomes. In this population-based retrospective longitudinal study using inpatient and emergency department discharge data from four states, researchers found that non-Hispanic Black patients were at higher risk for delayed diagnosis of appendicitis compared to White patients. This increased risk for delayed diagnosis translated into higher risks for postoperative 30-day readmission rates. The researchers found that this risk was mitigated when Black patients received care at hospitals serving a more diverse patient population.

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Diagnostic Errors Case Studies

January 19, 2023

The Primary-Care Research in Diagnosis Errors (PRIDE) Learning Network was a Boston-based national effort to improve diagnostic safety. Hosted by the State of Massachusetts’ Betsy Lehman Center, it was led by the Harvard Brigham and Women’s Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. ...

ER doctors misdiagnose patients with unusual symptoms.

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Abelson R. New York Times. December 15, 2022.

Emergency department safety is challenged by factors such as production pressure, burnout, and overcrowding. This news article provides context for the 2022 AHRQ report Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) which synthesized the number of patients harmed while seeking emergency care.

Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: a Systematic Review.

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Newman-Toker DE, Peterson SM, Badihian S, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; December 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 22(23)-EHC043.

Although diagnostic accuracy in the emergency department (ED) is high, diagnostic errors still occur. This evidence review estimated that 1 in 18 ED patients receive an incorrect diagnosis, which translates to 7.4 million patients misdiagnosed every year (or 5.7% of all ED visits annually). Five conditions were found to be most vulnerable to misdiagnosis: stroke, heart attack, aortic aneurysm/ dissection, spinal cord injury and blood clots. The evidence review identified variation in diagnostic error rates across demographic groups; female sex and non-White race were often associated with increased risk for diagnostic errors. Serious misdiagnosis-related harms were often associated with clinician bedside judgement and other cognitive failures.

Structural racism and adverse maternal health outcomes: a systematic review.

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Hailu EM, Maddali SR, Snowden JM, et al. Health Place. 2022;78:102923.

Racial and ethnic health disparities are receiving increased attention, and yet structural racism continues to negatively impact communities of color. This review identified only six papers studying the impact of structural racism on severe maternal morbidity (SMM). Despite heterogeneity in measures and outcomes, the studies all demonstrated a link between structural racism and SMM; additional research is required.

Common and consequential fractures that should not be missed in children.

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Tougas C, Brimmo O. Pediatr Ann. 2022;51:e357-e363.

Diagnostic errors involving pediatric musculoskeletal radiographs can lead to adverse patient safety outcomes. This article discusses contributing factors to missed or delayed diagnosis of pediatric fractures and strategies to improve diagnosis.

Electronic diagnostic support in emergency physician triage: qualitative study with thematic analysis of interviews.

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Sibbald M, Abdulla B, Keuhl A, et al. JMIR Hum Factors. 2022;9:e39234.

Electronic differential diagnostic support (EDS) are decision aids that suggest one or more differential diagnoses based on clinical data entered by the clinician. The generated list may prompt the clinician to consider additional diagnoses. This study simulated the use of one EDS, Isabel, in the emergency department to identify barriers and supports to its effectiveness. Four themes emerged. Notably, some physicians thought the EDS-generated differentials could reduce bias while others suggested it could introduce bias.

Mechanical Prosthetic Valve Thrombosis with Thromboembolism.

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WebM&M Case November 16, 2022

A 61-year-old women with a mechanical aortic valve on chronic warfarin therapy was referred to the emergency department (ED) for urgent computed tomography (CT) imaging of the right leg to rule out an arterial clot. CT imaging revealed two arterial thromboses the right lower extremity and an echocardiogram revealed a thrombus near the prosthetic heart valve. The attending physician ordered discontinuation of warfarin and initiation of a heparin drip.

Cognitive biases encountered by physicians in the emergency room.

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Kunitomo K, Harada T, Watari T. BMC Emerg Med. 2022;22:148.

Cognitive biases can impede diagnostic decision-making and contribute to diagnostic delays and patient harm. This study explored the types of cognitive biases contributing to diagnostic errors in emergency rooms in Japan. The most common biases reported were overconfidence, confirmation bias, availability bias, and anchoring bias. Findings indicate that most diagnostic errors involved overlooking another disease in the same organ group or related organ (e.g., diagnosing headache rather than stroke).

Delayed diagnosis of serious paediatric conditions in 13 regional emergency departments.

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Michelson KA, McGarghan FLE, Patterson EE, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2022;Epub Sep 30.

Adverse events in pediatric emergency departments (ED) are rare, but largely preventable. This study examined characteristics and risk factors of patients with delayed diagnosis (i.e., presented to the ED within one week of a previous visit) and patients without delayed diagnosis of one of 7 serious medical conditions. Patients who were Hispanic or non-Hispanic Black, had public or other insurance, or non-English speaking were associated with delayed diagnosis.

Misdiagnosis of thoracic aortic emergencies occurs frequently among transfers to aortic referral centers: an analysis of over 3700 patients.

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Arnaoutakis GJ, Ogami T, Aranda‐Michel E, et al. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022;11:e025026.

Missed diagnosis of aortic emergencies can result in patient death, therefore patients with presumed aortic syndromes may be transferred to aortic referral centers. Because interhospital transfers present their own risks, these researchers evaluated emergency transfers of patients who did not ultimately have a diagnosis of acute aortic dissection, intramural hematoma, penetrating aortic ulcer, thoracic aortic aneurysm, or aortic pseudoaneurysm. Approximately 11% of emergency transfers were misdiagnosed, secondary to imaging misinterpretation.

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Diagnostic Safety

October 10, 2022

Selected PSNet materials for a general safety audience focusing on improvements in the diagnostic process and the strategies that support them to prevent diagnostic errors from harming patients.

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