Ensuring that a particular patient has been adequately diagnosed plays a central role in seeing to it that the ailments which such individuals may be suffering from are satisfactorily addressed. It is only through a thorough and careful diagnostic process that a healthcare practitioner can be able to establish the illness that a patient may be grappling with at a particular time (Berenson, Upadhyay & Kaye, 2014). As such, a proper and well thought out diagnostic process is essential as it will help in creating a form of care which specifically meets the needs of a particular patient. There are however instances when errors occur in the diagnostic process and as a result, may lead to a patient being provided with the wrong treatment. These errors are as discussed below
System errors
Systems which function poorly may result in errors occurring in the diagnostic process. The driving factors behind such errors occurring may include poorly standardized procedures and policies, discontinuous handoffs and care, inaccurate test results, poor communication and the pressure to deliver on time (Zwaan et al., 2012). Delaying the review of test results may compound to high possibilities of errors occurring since such inferences may not provide the intended outcomes.
Cognitive errors
In the event that a health care practitioner’s cognitive capabilities are compromised, there are highly likely chances of errors occurring since such individuals may be carrying out their duties with minimal knowledge. Most of the errors in this context occur as a result of data being collected poorly, faulty context application, biases in the interpretation of test results and poor diagnostic synthesis. A good percentage of such errors come about as a result of medical practitioners using previous experiences in establishing the source of such ailments.
No-fault errors
A partial understanding of the methodical presentations of uncommon illnesses by the healthcare practitioner and competing factors that closely interact and affect the wellness of an individual are likely to result in errors in the diagnostic process (Singh, Meyer & Thomas, 2014). During such instances, it may be a challenge determining the seriousness of a particular ailment. In the event that such errors occur, chances are that the treatment and management of particular illnesses may be a challenge.
References
Berenson, R. A., Upadhyay, D. K., & Kaye, D. R. (2014). Placing diagnosis errors on the policy agenda. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Singh, H., Meyer, A. N., & Thomas, E. J. (2014). The frequency of diagnostic errors in outpatient care: estimations from three large observational studies involving US adult populations. BMJ quality & safety, bmjqs-2013.
Zwaan, L., Thijs, A., Wagner, C., van der Wal, G., & Timmermans, D. R. (2012). Relating faults in diagnostic reasoning with diagnostic errors and patient harm. Academic Medicine, 87(2), 149-156.
