Getting The Diagnosis Wrong

Getting the Diagnosis Wrong Liat Hill Adelphi University

Danielle Ofri, M.D., explains how differential and extensive diagnosis are and how easy it is to misdiagnose a patient. As she examines her patient with abdominal pain and prioritizes her diagnosis while trying to make sure she keeps in mind the serious conditions she can’t afford to miss. Danielle explains that diagnostic accuracy is very difficult to precisely achieve. It is estimated that doctors get it wrong in one out of ten to one out of twenty cases. A diagnostic error, incorrect or delayed diagnoses are very common and can be deadly to our patients. The Institute of Medicine has taken up the subject and reports that almost everyone will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetimes. Danielle goes on to say that sometimes there are situations where getting the exact right answer is not necessary. By differentiating diagnosis’s into categories of serious and not so serious is usually sufficient enough. However, it is always important to do a follow up with the patient to make sure the doctor was right and that there were no diagnostic errors.
Firstly, Danielle starts off her article explaining the different kind of diagnosis’s that range from extensive to minute. She explains that a middle aged woman came into her office with abdominal pain. For a doctor that works in general medicine, emergency departments, or urgent care centers this is a daily occurrence that dulls the sense of urgency. Doctors know the list of all the possible causes of abdominal pain. This includes the common acid reflux, the rare porphyria, the benign constipation, and the life threatening tear in the aorta or