Background: Diagnostic errors have been cited as a potential contributor to hospital readmissions, particularly early readmissions (e.g. within 7 days). A single prior study of early readmissions applied a binary (yes/no) metric to assess for diagnostic error in early readmissions, but this may be an insensitive method. Past studies of diagnostic error in primary care [...]

Background: Diagnostic error is a major threat to the safety of hospitalized patients, affecting as many as 1 in 4 patients and leading to 7% of inpatient deaths. However, diagnostic error remains difficult to identify and measure, particularly in the hospital setting, where determination of an error relies on medical record review. Measurement difficulty also [...]