ENTtoday
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • Practice Focus
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Departments
    • Issue Archive
    • TRIO Best Practices
      • Allergy
      • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
      • Head and Neck
      • Laryngology
      • Otology/Neurotology
      • Pediatric
      • Rhinology
      • Sleep Medicine
    • Career Development
    • Case of the Month
    • Everyday Ethics
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Medical Education
    • Online Exclusives
    • Practice Management
    • Resident Focus
    • Rx: Wellness
    • Special Reports
    • Tech Talk
    • Viewpoint
    • What’s Your O.R. Playlist?
  • Literature Reviews
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • TRIO Meetings
  • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Triological Society
    • Advertising Staff
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
    • Place an Ad
    • Classifieds
    • Rate Card
  • Search

How to Prevent Medical Diagnostic Errors

by Jill U Adams • September 7, 2014

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version

You Might Also Like

  • AAO-HNS14: Medical Bias Explored As Cause of Medical Errors
  • Few Medical Errors are Reported
  • Admitting Medical Errors Can Help Physicians Learn from Mistakes
  • Small Changes, Stark Differences: Errors in Otolaryngology
Explore This Issue
September 2014

How to Reduce Diagnostic Error

  • Be aware of cognitive biases.
  • Be open to alternative explanations.
  • Follow up with the patient, as well as ordered tests and referrals.
  • Use objective decision-making tools or algorithms.
  • Review past decisions.

Learn How You Think

The human mind uses rules of thumb that help it to make decisions or quickly slice through an overwhelming amount of input. These shortcuts can also lead to certain types of mistakes—what psychiatry calls “cognitive biases.”

Pat Croskerry, MD, PhD, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has written and lectured on cognitive-related factors in medical decision making. He described the two ways we make decisions: intuitive and rational. Intuitive decision-making is fast and compelling—it is the snap judgment or the gut instinct. Rational decision-making is slower and more deliberate.

While intuitive decision-making often serves physicians well, it is occasionally catastrophic. By virtue of its very speed and certainty, it can blind a physician to considering alternative explanations for a particular patient’s presentation. It’s important to understand that everyone relies on intuitive decision making, that it’s part of human nature, and that you must recognize it in order to overcome it.

What are cognitive biases? Here are some key biases that take place in a physician’s exam room:

  • Anchoring bias. “That’s when you latch on to the first thing you see,” said David Eibling, MD, a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. By focusing on the most obvious symptom or the most likely diagnosis, a physician may fail to take into account conflicting information.
  • Confirmation bias. Once a physician has a diagnosis in mind, he or she will seek confirming evidence. “But they may forget to look for refuting evidence,” Dr. Eibling said.
  • Availability bias. That’s when a physician relies on recent experience, such as, “I’ve seen four of these cases this month; this must be number five.” By the same token, physicians may miss diseases they haven’t seen for awhile.

Dr. Eibling said it’s worth learning about cognitive biases because it allows you step back and see how you think, then determine where that thinking might lead you astray. Also, he said, it’s reassuring for many physicians to learn that these mistakes are encoded into how our brains work.

“Everybody gets uncomfortable when you start talking about errors,” Dr. Graber said. “But everybody gets interested when you show them the patterns of human error.” For example, you put your car keys down on the kitchen counter instead of in the bowl near the mail and then you can’t find them. Everyone recognizes that scenario, Dr. Graber said. “The silly cognitive mistakes we make in our everyday lives are the same ones that can lead to diagnostic errors.’”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 | Single Page

Filed Under: Features, Home Slider Tagged With: diagnosisIssue: September 2014

You Might Also Like:

  • AAO-HNS14: Medical Bias Explored As Cause of Medical Errors
  • Few Medical Errors are Reported
  • Admitting Medical Errors Can Help Physicians Learn from Mistakes
  • Small Changes, Stark Differences: Errors in Otolaryngology

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

The Laryngoscope
Ensure you have all the latest research at your fingertips; Subscribe to The Laryngoscope today!

Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
Open access journal in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery is currently accepting submissions.

Classifieds

View the classified ads »

TRIO Best Practices

View the TRIO Best Practices »

Top Articles for Residents

  • Do Training Programs Give Otolaryngology Residents the Necessary Tools to Do Productive Research?
  • Why More MDs, Medical Residents Are Choosing to Pursue Additional Academic Degrees
  • What Physicians Need to Know about Investing Before Hiring a Financial Advisor
  • Tips to Help You Regain Your Sense of Self
  • Should USMLE Step 1 Change from Numeric Score to Pass/Fail?
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Experts Delve into Treatment Options for Laryngopharyngeal Reflux
    • Non-Acidic Reflux Explains Lack of Response to H2 Blockers and PPIs
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • New Developments in the Management of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Eustachian Tuboplasty: A Potential New Option for Chronic Tube Dysfunction and Patulous Disease
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Why Virtual Grand Rounds May Be Here to Stay
    • Otolaryngologist Leverages His Love of Pinball into Second Business
    • These New Imaging Advances May Help to Protect Parathyroids
    • Is the Training and Cost of a Fellowship Worth It? Here’s What Otolaryngologists Say
    • Which Otologic Procedures Poses the Greatest Risk of Aerosol Generation?

Polls

Have you used 3D-printed materials in your otolaryngology practice?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Visit: The Triological Society • The Laryngoscope • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology

Wiley
© 2021 The Triological Society. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN 1559-4939

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.