AHRQ Papers on Diagnostic Safety Topics

Diagnostic errors occur in all settings of care, contribute to about 10 percent of patient deaths, and are the primary reason for medical liability claims. As the lead Federal agency investing in research to improve diagnostic safety and reduce diagnostic error, AHRQ is currently developing a series of papers on different diagnostic safety issues. Some of these will be released as Issue Briefs on the AHRQ website, while others will be published in peer-reviewed journals. A list of topics is below.

Issue Briefs

• Reinforcing the Value and Roles of Nurses in Diagnostic Safety: Pragmatic Recommendations for Nurse Leaders and Educators (PDF, 1.2 MB)
• Improved Diagnostic Accuracy Through Probability-Based Diagnosis (PDF, 976 KB)
• Distributed Cognition and the Role of Nurses in Diagnostic Safety in the Emergency Department  (PDF, 1.5 MB)
• Improving Education—A Key to Better Diagnostic Outcomes (PDF, 2 MB)
• The Contribution of Diagnostic Errors to Maternal Morbidity and Mortality During and Immediately After Childbirth: State of the Science (PDF, 1.4 MB).
• Leadership To Improve Diagnosis: A Call to Action (PDF, 2.3 MB).
• Health Information Technology for Engaging Patients in Diagnostic Decision Making in Emergency Departments (PDF, 3 MB)
• Evidence on Use of Clinical Reasoning Checklists for Diagnostic Error Reduction (PDF, 971 KB).
• Telediagnosis for Acute Care: Implications for the Quality and Safety of Diagnosis (PDF, 1 MB).
• Operational Measurement of Diagnostic Safety: State of the Science (PDF, 2 MB).

Journal Articles

• Defining diagnostic error: a scoping review to assess the impact of the national academies' report improving diagnosis in health care (PDF, 990 KB).
• Development and usability testing of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Common Formats to capture diagnostic safety events (PDF, 1 MB).
• Bridging the feedback gap: a sociotechnical approach to informing clinicians of patients' subsequent clinical course and outcomes (PDF, 282 KB).