The most recent edition of Inside Medical Liability includes an article titled “Minimizing Diagnostic Error: 10 Things You Could Do Tomorrow.”

In it, the author describes the current state of diagnostic errors in healthcare. Approximately 1 out of every 1,000 diagnostic encounters results in harm due to a diagnostic error, while the number is much higher when including errors that don’t result in harm. Diagnostic errors resulted in lawsuits more than any other type of claim, and it’s not the rare diseases that get missed. Most often it’s the common ones.

The article ends with 10 tips for doctors, 10 tips for healthcare organizations and 10 tips for patients to avoid diagnostic errors.

For doctors, these tips include taking time to think, really listen to your patient, and taking advantage of resources such as other doctors for second opinions.

For health care organizations, tips include encouraging communication when there is an error, encouraging communication between radiologists and laboratory doctors with the front line physicians, and empowering patients.

Finally, patients can help to avoid diagnostic errors by taking control over their care, including asking for second opinions and coordinating follow up visits, speaking up about their symptoms, and asking doctors questions to learn more about the condition.