title: Teaching for Reducing Diagnostic Errors.
abstract: 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 that underlie these errors is rarely clear to the clinicians. In this write-up, we discuss the reasons for diagnostic errors and how medical students can be trained to avoid such errors. The errors have been classified as Cognitive errors, System errors, and No-fault errors, and cognitive interventions to address each of these are detailed.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics, *Maulana Azad Medical College,and #University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; and Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Punjab; India. Correspondence to: Dr Tejinder Singh, Department of Pediatrics and Medical Education, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana 141 008, India. drtejinder22@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Devendra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Piyush
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Tejinder
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data