New York, October 2 (IANS). A research has revealed that one out of every 14 patients in hospitals is misdiagnosed. To avoid this, there is a need to adopt new methods in the medical field.
The research, published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety, says that 85 percent of these errors are preventable and that there is a need to work on new approaches to improve monitoring to correct these mistakes.
Commonly misdiagnosed conditions include heart failure, acute kidney failure, sepsis, pneumonia, respiratory arrest, mental status changes, abdominal pain, and hypoxemia (low levels of oxygen in the blood).
According to the study, the high risk category of misdiagnosis includes those cases in which the patient was transferred to the ICU after 24 or more days of admission. Apart from this, cases in which the patient dies or develops complex clinical issues within 90 days of hospitalization, in the hospital or after discharge, have also been included in this category.
Of the 160 cases reviewed (154 patients) that were misdiagnosed, the number of cases transferred to the ICU after 24 hours was 54. At the same time, cases of death within 90 days were 34 and cases with complex clinical problems were 52. The number of errors in diagnosis in low-risk patients was 20.
This figure shows how serious the problem of error in diagnosis is and how it can result in patients’ health being at risk.
Also its damages have been classified as minor, moderate, serious and fatal. Research says that this can be prevented.
The researchers suggested that careful analysis of errors and adding AI tools to the workflow can avoid misdiagnosis by triggering timely intervention while improving monitoring.
–IANS
MKS/AKJ
