Cognitive strategies: a method to reduce diagnostic errors in ER


Submitted: 17 February 2013
Accepted: 17 February 2013
Published: 20 February 2009
Abstract Views: 858
PDF: 1714
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

I wonder why sometimes we are able to rapidly recognize patterns of disease presentation, formulate a speedy diagnostic closure, and go on with a treatment plan. On the other hand sometimes we proceed studing in deep our patient in an analytic, slow and rational way of decison making. Why decisions sometimes can be intuitive, while sometimes we have to proceed in a rigorous way? What is the “back ground noise” and the “signal to noise ratio” of presenting sintoms? What is the risk in premature labeling or “closure” of a patient? When is it useful the “cook-book” approach in clinical decision making? The Emergency Department is a natural laboratory for the study of error” stated an author. Many studies have focused on the occurrence of errors in medicine, and in hospital practice, but the ED with his unique operating characteristics seems to be a uniquely errorprone environment. That's why it is useful to understand the underlying pattern of thinking that can lead us to misdiagnosis. The general knowledge of thought processes gives the psysician awareness an the ability to apply different tecniques in clinical decision making and to recognize and avoid pitfalls.

Carolina Prevaldi, UO Pronto Soccorso-Accettazione, Presidio Ospedaliero di San Donà di Piave, Jesolo (VE)
Prevaldi, C. (2009). Cognitive strategies: a method to reduce diagnostic errors in ER. Emergency Care Journal, 5(1), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.4081/ecj.2009.1.38

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations