Background: Diagnostic errors (DE) – defined as incorrect, missed, or delayed diagnoses not made within a timeframe consistent with standard clinical practice – are common and can lead to harm, especially in acute care settings. One cause of DEs is suboptimal clinical reasoning in the diagnostic process. Electronic clinical documentation has been suggested to potentially [...]

Background: To date, attempts at estimating diagnostic error (DE), as defined as missed, incorrect, or delayed diagnoses, have focused on the identification of all types of adverse events, not specifically DE. Retrospectively identifying and ascertaining DE for hospitalized patients has been further challenged by (1) variability in operational definitions of DE; (2) use of non-standardized [...]

Background: The diagnostic process is fraught with diagnostic uncertainty. Typically, discussions about diagnostic uncertainty occur upon admission and during rounds, which are increasingly conducted virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, key dimensions in the diagnostic process (history taking, physical examination, interpretation of diagnostic tests) are affected by breakdowns in communication between patients and clinicians, physical [...]