The chaos and rapidity associated with the ED make it an environment much more prone to diagnostic error.1 96% of these incidents involving missed diagnoses can be attributed to various cognitive biases/factors.2 The consequence of these biases ultimately lead to incomplete H/P’s (20-42% of errors),2,3 failure to consider competing diagnoses (32% of errors),3 or failure to order or follow-up on investigations (44-58% of errors).2,3 So what can be done? Presented below are 6 …
Anecdotal evidence: what’s the harm?
Anecdotal evidence is data garnered from stories or experiences. In a medical context it is often based on one (or more) patient interactions [1]. After seeing a rare disease, or missing a potentially dangerous diagnosis, we are naturally inclined to over-investigate that entity, regardless of what the evidence would suggest we do.