Medscape September 10, 2019
One in six physicians estimated in a Medscape poll that they make diagnostic errors every day.
That number varied by specialty. Pediatricians were less likely to say they made diagnostic errors every day (11%) and emergency medicine (EM) doctors were more likely, at 26%. In between were physicians in family medicine (18%), general practice (22%), and internal medicine (15%).
Nurses, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician assistants (PAs) answered similarly: in all three categories, 17% said they estimated they made diagnostic errors daily.
Poll questions, posted June 26, were posed after Medscape reported results from a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine that suggested that physicians tend to underestimate how often they make diagnostic errors.
Responders included 633...
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