Posted in: | Nov 29,2018
A new medical course developed by a radiologist aims at training medical students to prevent the kind of medical errors caused by radiology missteps.
The radiologist, Dr. Timothy Mosher of Penn State University says he developed the course after reading a report titled Improving Diagnosis in Health Care which was released in 2015 by the National Academies of Sciences. The report had made special mention of the fact that an increasing number of medical errors, including many fatal ones, can be linked to errors at the diagnostic stage.
The course curriculum focuses on identifying the causes and environments that contribute to an increased risk of a diagnostic error, and techniques that can be used to minimize the incidence of such errors. This is the first time that a course curriculum is being developed especially to expose undergraduate medical students to the potential for diagnostic errors right in their training years so that they have a better understanding of how these factors can affect their work as they become full-fledged physicians.
Diagnostic errors like misdiagnosis or wrong diagnosis, delayed diagnosis and other errors have received lesser attention in the war on medical errors. Researchers have paid more attention to factors like medication errors, surgical errors, and hospital-acquired infections as medical researchers and advocates have batted for stronger safeguards to protect patients from errors. However, the fact is that as diagnostic technologies improve and are employed in all fields of medical treatment, and with newer tools being developed every day, the potential for errors has also increased.
At the very least, wrong or delayed diagnosis can cause patient discomfort or pain, as treatment is either delayed or the patient is administered an inappropriate treatment. At its worst, a diagnostic error can mean death for the patient as doctors prescribe wrong drugs and treatment programs. In the case of a disease like cancer, wrong or delayed diagnosis can seriously increase the patient’s risk of dying from the disease as the misdiagnosis delays the start of his appropriate cancer treatment program. In the case of an emergency condition like a heart attack, a diagnostic error can mean premature death for the individual when the appropriate treatment is not administered in time.
If your loved one has suffered injuries as a result of a wrong diagnosis, delayed diagnosis or any other kind of error, you may qualify for compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering and other damages. Speak to an experienced Indianapolis medical malpractice lawyer at Montross Miller and discuss whether you are eligible for a medical malpractice claim for damages for your losses. You may qualify for compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering and other damages.
