12 Million Misdiagnoses in Outpatient Settings Annually

About 12 million people who visit a doctor’s office or outpatient clinic in the U.S. each year receive the wrong diagnosis, according to a recently published study in the British Medical Journal Quality and Safety. Much of the focus on improving patient safety centers on hospitals. But as the researchers point out, most diagnoses occur in outpatient settings, where safety concerns often go unreported.

The medical researchers at Baylor University and the University of Texas combined data from three studies that involved records from outpatient clinics. They reviewed the data in detail to see if diagnostic errors had been made, and to estimate the frequency of diagnostic errors. Overall, the researchers found that outpatient clinics have a misdiagnosis rate of just above 5%.

Extrapolating that to the U.S. patient population as a whole, they estimate that about 12 million adults a year are affected by misdiagnoses.

Misdiagnoses in medical offices and clinics pose a substantial patient safety risk. The researchers found that as many as half of the errors had the potential to injure patients. Misdiagnosis of heart disease or a delay in diagnosing cancer, for instance, can lead to a patient’s death.

One reason misdiagnoses are so common in outpatient settings is that doctors often have too many patients to treat and have limited time to spend with each one. Doctors frequently report difficulties in ordering and interpreting diagnostic and lab tests. That has a direct impact on diagnostic accuracy.

The researchers recommend a number of steps to reduce diagnostic errors at outpatient facilities, including better use of information technology and improved systems for follow-up, monitoring, and tracking of patients.

The researchers concluded that healthcare organizations, patient advocates, and others could use the findings to push for greater patient safety in outpatient settings and curb the number of misdiagnoses.

The attorneys of Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC represent patients who have been harmed by preventable medical errors in Seattle and across Washington.

Source: BMJ Quality and Safety