Bad assumptions on primary care diagnostic errors. Response to: ‘Advancing the science of measurement of diagnostic errors in healthcare: the Safer Dx framework’ by Singh and Sittig

There are so many bad assumptions in this article.1 I will just expand on two. First, there is no recognition in their model of probabilities. Everything is constructed as a black or white phenomenon, which is a world away from the day to day realities of patient care. This is another prime example of the inappropriate application of industrial thinking to the human endeavour of patient care. (This was written by two engineers apparently, and not surprisingly). How will their machines handle a patient who went to work, drove herself …

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