Diagnostic errors, constituted by a missed, wrong, or delayed diagnosis detected later by additional tests or findings, are one of the most vexing issues in medicine. They are one of the commonest causes of patient- harm and also medical negligence claims. Although a variety of constructs have been proposed to explain diagnostic errors, the complex interplay of cognitive- and system-factors tha...

CASE DEFINITIONS. We identified all patients with abnormal test results suggestive of diabetes (i.e., hemoglobin [Hb] A1c ≥ 7.0% or plasma glucose ≥ 200 mg/dL) on one or more occasions. Patients were considered to have recognized diabetes if they had an ICD-9 diagnostic code for diabetes in the administrative database or a diagnosis mentioned in their medical record (on the basis of medical rec...

Any doctor who has worked in an A&E Department will recall the relative ease with which clinical and radiological errors can occur; indeed all grades of medical staff are at risk. The medical defence organisations have been aware of this problem for many years and examples of A&E errors are highlighted in their annual reports. This excellent pocket size paperback written by an experienced A&E C...

Telepathology (TP) as a service in pathology at a distance is now widely used. It is integrated in the daily workflow of numerous pathologists. Meanwhile, in Germany 15 departments of pathology are using the telepathology technique for frozen section service; however, a common recognised quality standard in diagnostic accuracy is still missing. In a first step, the working group Aurich uses a T...