This commentary co-written by a medical student and a faculty member explores the presence and impact of implicit bias on the clinician team and patients. The piece introduces a four-step framework through which to examine the origins of bias, how its described, its care impact and how to reduce its effect.

COVID-19 ushered in new diagnostic challenges and changes in care practices. In this study conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, charts for hospitalized adult patients under investigation (PUI) for COVID-19 were reviewed for potential diagnostic error. Diagnostic errors were identified in 14% of cases; patients with and without diagnostic errors were statistically similar and errors were not associated with pandemic-related change practices.

Anesthesia medications prepared in the operating room are vulnerable to errors at all stages of medication administration, including preparation and dilution. In this study, anesthesiologists were asked to prepare the mixture of three drugs used for spinal anesthesia for cesarean section. Results show deviation from the expected concentration and variability between providers. The authors recommend all medications be prepared in the hospital pharmacy or purchased pre-mixed from the manufacturer to prevent these errors. 

Trans and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) people may delay or avoid seeking healthcare due to experiences with biased or uninformed providers. This study focuses specifically on obstetric and gynecological care providers who provide care to TGNC people. Participants described challenges at the clinic level (e.g., needing at least one knowledgeable and interested clinician) and administrative level (e.g., trans men who have a cervix do not get automatic reminders for PAP tests) that can prevent TGNC people from receiving equitable care.

People with disabilities face barriers to safe, equitable care such as inaccessible equipment and facilities or provider bias. In this study, primary care and specialist physicians described challenges with caring for patients with disabilities. Many expressed explicit biases such as reluctance to care for people with disabilities, invest in accessible equipment, or obtain continuing education to provide appropriate care.

Various factors – including organizational, interpersonal clinician, and patient factors – can contribute to diagnostic errors and delays. This survey of 220 clinicians explored the perceived frequency of different factors contributing to diagnostic errors or diagnostic delay. Findings suggest that system and processes, care team interactions, provider factors, cognitive factors, and patient factors were perceived to contribute to diagnostic error and delay with similar frequency.

Obstetric and gynecologic (OB/GYN) physicians are frequently involved in malpractice lawsuits, some of which result in catastrophic payouts. This study categorized malpractice claims involving OB/GYN trainees (students, residents, and fellows) between 1986 and 2020. Cases are categorized by type of injury, patient outcome, category of error, outcome of lawsuit, and amount of settlement.

Diagnostic timeouts can improve the differential diagnosis process and limit missed diagnostic opportunities. This prospective study evaluated the implementation of diagnostic timeouts among eight pediatric hospital medicine providers over a 12-month period. In the majority of cases, the diagnostic timeout led to the pursuit of alternative diagnoses.

Patient safety advocates have called for cognitive testing of aging clinicians and some health systems have attempted instituting such policies as part of their recredentialing program. This commentary calls for state medical boards to adopt cognitive testing as part of the recredentialling process within the confines of legal boundaries.

Implicit bias in clinicians can result in diagnostic errors and poor patient outcomes. This commentary outlines steps that individual clinicians, as well as healthcare systems, can take to reduce implicit bias and the resulting harm to patients.

Patient complaints can provide insights into safety threats and system weaknesses. This study used the healthcare complaints analysis tool (HCAT) to identify and categorize safety problems in emergency care. Most problems arose during examination/diagnosis and frequently resulted in diagnostic errors or errors of omission.

Defensive medicine refers to clinician behaviors with the intent to avoid malpractice risk due to care omissions. This article provides an overview of defensive medicine and its relationship to the taxonomies of medical errors and the risks that defensive medicine places on patients, hospital administrators, and systems, as well as clinicians.

Concerns have been raised regarding the need to assess the competencies of aging physicians. This article discusses how different entities (e.g., health systems, states, and professional medical organizations) are addressing this issue through competency-based assessments, peer review, and credentialing requirements.

Use of personal protective equipment is necessary to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, in healthcare settings. The alertness levels of ICU staff who regularly wore full personal protective equipment (FPPE), i.e., respirator mask, body covering suit, visor, gloves, and hat, were tested when not wearing FPPE and after two hours wearing FPPE. Results show health care worker alertness can be negatively impacted by wearing FPPE for as little as two hours.

Wrong blood in tube (WBIT) errors can be classified as intended patient drawn/wrong label applied or wrong patient/intended label applied. In this international study, errors were divided almost evenly between the two types and most were a combination of protocol violations (e.g. technology not used or not used appropriately) and slips/lapses (e.g., registration errors). Additional contributory factors and recommendations for improvement are also discussed.