Comparative Perspectives on Diagnostic Error Discussions Between Inpatient and Outpatient Pediatric Providers.

Area of Science:

• Medical error analysis
• Healthcare quality improvement
• Patient safety research

Background:

• Diagnostic error is a significant cause of patient harm, yet remains understudied.
• Provider discomfort in discussing diagnostic errors is a known barrier to improvement.
• Previous research has not examined practice setting differences in discussing diagnostic error.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare provider comfort levels in discussing diagnostic errors between inpatient and outpatient settings.
• To identify potential differences in willingness to discuss diagnostic errors based on practice environment.

Main Methods:

• A multicenter survey was distributed to 3881 healthcare providers in May-June 2018.
• The survey assessed provider comfort discussing short-term and long-term diagnostic errors, both publicly and privately.
• Barriers to discussing diagnostic errors were also evaluated.

Main Results:

• Inpatient providers reported significantly higher comfort discussing short-term diagnostic errors publicly (43% vs. 22%) and privately (76% vs. 60%).
• Inpatient providers were also more comfortable discussing long-term diagnostic errors privately (64% vs. 46%) and publicly (40% vs. 24%).
• No significant differences in cited barriers to discussion were found between practice settings.

Conclusions:

• Inpatient providers demonstrate greater comfort discussing diagnostic errors compared to outpatient providers.
• The discrepancy in comfort levels warrants further investigation into its causes.
• Developing strategies to enhance outpatient provider comfort in discussing diagnostic errors is crucial for improving patient safety.