Actionable strategies to minimize diagnostic errors in radiology.

Abstract

Medical errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Literature on common mechanisms to reduce radiological error are reviewed including shifting from general to subspecialized care, improving expertise, instituting shift volume and shift length limits, minimizing non-interpretive tasks, participating in focused educational and multidisciplinary conferences, and increasing practice size. Implementation of shift volume limits and full sub-specialization has the potential to significantly reduce radiologist error rates.