Hyderabad: Diagnostic error is the most common and the main mistake committed by health experts, according to data compiled from multiple studies stating that hospital deaths are attributed to normal causes which are actually a result of diagnostic error.
One in 20 adults experience diagnostic error that results in patient care gaps, repeated testing and unnecessary procedures that in turn harms the patient’s body.
The report compiled by ECRI Institute states that diagnostic errors are defined as the failure to establish an accurate and timely explanation to the patient’s health problems and to communicate it to the patient.
Diagnostic errors are seen in common and rare disease cases. Common diseases like fevers, infections etc. are some of the simple cases in which such errors get committed.
Dr Rukuma Reddy, senior government doctor, working with integrated disease surveillance programme, explained that diagnostic errors are seen in fever cases where identifying the cause of the fever is a challenge.
“To not let the patient down, 90 per cent of the doctors begin antibiotic treatment that leads to resistance and also side-effects. This is because a disease has more than hundred variables but there are only eight to 10 which are mainly considered. The other variables are not looked into and this leads to issues in diagnostics,” the doctor said.
ECRI has developed structured tools to pinpoint these errors where they state that maintaining data can go a long way in learning to deal with such errors.
But data-management is a tough task in India where both private and public hospitals don’t maintain proper records. It is often the patient who maintains the records. Case reviews are done when there are complai-nts or in case of insurance patients where records have to be maintained.
