Читать книгу The Coming Healthcare Revolution: Take Control of Your Health - Sheldon Cohen M.D. - Страница 14

Failure to diagnose is a common problem. Forty percent of malpractice cases fall under this heading. The fault lies with patients, doctors and even insurance companies:

Patients are at fault when they never see a doctor, ignore mild, or not so mild symptoms and refuse diagnostic studies.

Doctors are at fault when they do not make the time necessary to take a thorough medical history and perform a complete medical examination. They are so busy with follow up care and acute care medicine that the initial thorough review can get short-circuited. Patients can play a vital role in prevention here. If it is felt that an initial examination has been incomplete, never be afraid to ask. Oversee the complete examination process. Step 2 of this book will tell what it entails.

Insurance companies may cause delays in diagnostic testing.

These are but a few of the problems that can lead to failure to diagnose.

The Joint Commission has recommended patient safety standards for all healthcare organizations. They undergo a yearly review and every organization will adopt these standards. Safety standards are in place for the following healthcare organizations:

Ambulatory care and office-based Surgery

Assisted living

Behavioral healthcare

Critical care hospital

Disease-specific Care

Hospital

Home care

Laboratory

Long-term care

Networks

The Joint Commission publishes these standards on their web site: JCAHO.org.