Improving diagnosis for patient safety

21 JUN 2024

Recognizing the critical importance of correct and timely diagnoses in ensuring patient safety, “Improving diagnosis for patient safety” has been selected as the theme for World Patient Safety Day 2024.

Resolution WHA72.6 and the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 highlight the need for ensuring the safety of diagnostic processes. The global action plan encourages countries to adopt strategies that reduce diagnostic errors, which often arise from a combination of cognitive and system factors that impact the recognition of patients’ key signs and symptoms, and the interpretation and communication of their test results.

A diagnostic error is the failure to establish a correct and timely explanation of a patient’s health problem, which can include delayed, incorrect, or missed diagnoses, or a failure to communicate that explanation to the patient. The magnitude of diagnostic errors is profound, accounting for nearly 16% of preventable harm across health systems. With most adults likely to face at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, substantial work needs to be done to improve the safety of diagnostic processes.

Resources on "Improving Diagnosis for Patient Safety"

The following collection of links to resources is categorized by the organizations that produce/share the materials or categorized by the group it is most relevant for:

1. By National Academies

Title	Link
Improving Diagnosis in Health Care	View

2. By Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Title	Link
A resource to improve diagnostic decision	View
Diagnostic Safety Supplemental Item Set for Medical Office SOPS	View
Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Quality and Safety	View
Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families	View
Improving Your Laboratory Testing Process	View
Measure Dx: A Resource To Identify, Analyze, and Learn From Diagnostic Safety Events	View

3. For Patient Organizations/Societies

Title	Link
Patient's Toolkit- for patients by patients: Prepare for you next appointment, map your symptoms, account for medications, and plan your next steps with the Patient's Toolkit.	View
Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) Guide for Hospital and Health System Leaders for Diagnostic Quality and Safety	View
Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) Leaders’ Guide for Diagnostic Quality and Safety	View

4. For Clinical Teams, Educators & Researchers

Title	Link
Improving Diagnosis Change Package	View
Clinical Reasoning Toolkit	View
Understanding Diagnostic Errors	View
Strategies to identify cognitive biases	View
Clinician Checklists to improve diagnostic errors	View
Process Checklist	Take 2 – Think, Do framework General checklist Diagnostic decision making: Time to take Two steps back Red Team/Blue Team Challenge Diagnosis and error checklist Ten Commandments to Reduce Cognitive Errors The SAFER Checklist The THINK Checklist VITAMIN CC&D Checklist
Content Checklist	Symptom Specific Diagnostic Checklists Cases to improve diagnosis Case-based virtual learning course
Diagnosis and Telemedicine	View
Improving Telediagnosis: A Call to Action. Final Project Findings	View
For Medical Educators	View
For Researchers	View
Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM)- resources aimed at improving diagnosis and eliminating harm from diagnostic error	View