Toolkit Helps Pediatric Primary Care Providers Avoid Potential Diagnostic Errors

A new AHRQ-funded toolkit to help pediatric primary care providers avoid potential diagnostic errors is now available. The Reducing Diagnostic Errors in Primary Care Pediatrics toolkit was developed as part of a project that tracked diagnostic error rates and used best practices for diagnosing depression and elevated blood pressure, and effectively using laboratory results in children and adolescents. These conditions are widely misdiagnosed in pediatric primary care, with elevated blood pressure and adolescent depression misdiagnosed in nearly three-fourths of cases. Throughout the project, more than 100 primary care physicians in 30 practices around the nation used a wide range of tools and resources to implement best practices for the measurement, screening, recognition, diagnosis, follow-up and reduction of diagnostic errors in pediatric patients. The new toolkit contains resources, including videos, to assist primary care practice teams with a systematic approach to reducing diagnostic errors and improving care for children.

Reducing Diagnostic Errors in Primary Care Pediatrics Toolkit

The Reducing Diagnostic Errors in Primary Care Pediatrics Toolkit

aims to assist primary care practice teams with a systematic approach to reduce diagnostic errors among children in three important areas:

Elevated blood pressure, which is misdiagnosed in 74 to 87 percent of children
Adolescent depression, which affects nearly 10 percent of teenagers, and is misdiagnosed in almost 75 percent of adolescents
Actionable pediatric diagnostic tests, which are potentially delayed up to 26 percent of the time.

This toolkit walks teams through the measurement, screening, recognition, diagnosis, follow-up, and reduction of diagnostic errors in these areas. It is based on clinical evidence, best practices, and a compilation of resources from the project, which involved over 100 primary care physicians and their care teams working across the United States to improve care for children.

By using this toolkit, primary care providers will be able to:

Learn how to implement a systematic approach to providing safe and quality care to children
Test strategies for improving care
Access tools and best practices from national experts
Reduce the likelihood of harm to children by identifying and decreasing diagnostic errors.

References

AHRQ Research Summit on Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, Rockville, Maryland, September 28, 2016.

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Shaffer D, Fisher P, Dulcan MK, et al. The NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version 2.3 (DISC-2.3): description, acceptability, prevalence rates, and performance in the MECA Study. Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1996;35:865-77.

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Page last reviewed November 2018
Page originally created November 2018

Internet Citation: Reducing Diagnostic Errors in Primary Care Pediatrics Toolkit. Content last reviewed November 2018. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/diagnostic-safety/toolkit.html