Pocus as a tool to avoid diagnostic errors in covid-19 era

Abstract

X-ray flips and wrong labelling has been uncomfortably common, and often results in wrong side intervention. Wrong side surgery is indeed the most dramatic and visible form of human errors. Until the 1999 Institute of Medicine report ‘To Err is Human’, the medical fraternity was largely unaware of such preventable medical errors and near misses. We herein, describe a case where X-ray flip and mislabelling led to wrong side intervention in a COVID-19 ICU. Active errors in human performance are inevitable while practising medicine in the current COVID-19 pandemic where difficulties in performing comprehensive systemic examination with the protective gear on, long working hours, work stress, emotions, and fatigue interplay with the errors in technology and increase the chances of errors. We propose the use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in COVID-19 ICU’s to aid in the diagnosis and management.