Frequency and predictors of unspecific medical diagnoses in the emergency department: a prospective observational study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Misdiagnosis is a major public health problem, causing increased morbidity and mortality. In the busy setting of an emergency department (ED) patients are diagnosed under difficult circumstances. As a consequence, the ED diagnosis at hospital admittance may often be a descriptive diagnosis, such as "decreased general condition". Our objective was to determine in how far patients with such an unspecific ED diagnosis differ from patients with a specific ED diagnosis and whether they experience a worse outcome.

Methods

We conducted a prospective observational study in Bern university hospital in Switzerland for all adult non-trauma patients admitted to any internal medicine ward from August 15th 2015 to December 7th 2015. Unspecific ED diagnoses were defined through

SUBMITTER: Birrenbach T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9199121 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature