Abstract

SUAREZ RIVERO, Birsy; BLANCO ASPIAZU, Miguel Ángel; MORALES JIMENEZ, Emilio  and  SUAREZ RIVERO, Alujy. Influence of medical errors in diagnostic discussion upon diagnostic certainty. Rev Cub Med Mil [online]. 2012, vol.41, n.3, pp. 271-282. ISSN 0138-6557.

Introduction: diagnosis is both an end and an indispensable means to establish an effective treatment. To some it is the most important part of medical practice. However, there are difficulties related to the way it should be taught. Objective: determine the relationship between errors in diagnostic discussion and diagnostic certainty. Methods: a descriptive study was conducted based on the analysis of 75 diagnostic discussions written and presented by 36 internal medicine specialists from Dr. Carlos J. Finlay Central Military Hospital. All discussions were analyzed by three professors based on an observation guide. The three professors would then discuss their observations with a view to defining the errors made during diagnostic discussion. Results: the most common errors were the following: not dealing with the disorder or condition, not making a prognosis, wrong etiological diagnosis and wrong nosological entity, the latter two with statistically significant differences. Conclusions: there exist conceptual limitations as to what to include in the diagnosis as results. Most errors are not significantly associated with diagnostic certainty.

Keywords : diagnostic certainty; medical error; diagnostic discussion.

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