Background: Current surveillance approaches underestimate harmful diagnostic errors (DE) in hospitalized patients. A recent study of 2809 admissions observed that while one or more adverse events (AE) occurred in 23.6% of cases, only 10 AEs (0.1%) were attributable to DEs (1). Studies using the Safer Dx instrument have observed harmful DE rates of 5-7% (2). [...]

Background: Diagnostic uncertainty, defined as the subjective perception of an inability to provide an accurate explanation of the patient’s health problem, has been implicated in diagnostic error.1 Clinician notes, such as the admission notes, often include hedging terms, uncertainty phrases, and diagnostic differentials that can be used to assess uncertainty in unstructured documentation.1,2 Quantifying diagnostic [...]