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Many clinicians modify a differential diagnosis when they assume the care of a patient at the start of their inpatient shift. How often does this revision reflect a preexisting diagnostic error?
In a single-center study, 36 Chicago hospitalists received electronic questionnaires on day 2 of their service week asking if they changed the differential diagnosis of randomly selected patients (1011 total patients) who had been admitted before the hospitalists' transition. Investigators then reviewed the 184 cases with diagnostic changes for the presence of diagnostic error or harm using a validated instrument (Revised Safer Dx Instrument).
Diagnostic errors were found in 32% of cases with diagnostic changes; half were due to missed information fro…