Diagnostic performance dashboards: tracking diagnostic errors using big data

In their 2015 report, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, the National Academy of Medicine asserted that most individuals 'will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences'1 and 'improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but it also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative.'1 A key barrier to eliminating diagnostic errors is the lack of operational measures to track diagnostic performance.2 3

Novel approaches using 'big data' to identify statistically meaningful patterns offer unique opportunities to operationalise measurement of diagnostic errors and misdiagnosis-related harms.4 In a study of ~190 000 US inpatient stroke admissions, the authors found missed opportunities to diagnose stroke early were often linked to clinical presentations with dizziness or vertigo.5 A graphical temporal profile analysis of treat-and-release emergency department (ED) visits showed an exponential increase in visit frequency in the days before...

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