ASCLS: Patient Safety & The Laboratory

Improving patient care and reducing diagnostic errors has been a hot topic since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released To Err is Human1 and Crossing the Quality Chasm2 in 2000 and 2001 respectively.  Then in...

By Brandy D. Gunsolus, DCLS, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Patient Safety Committee Within the healthcare professional competencies outlined by the 2003 report “Health Professions Education – A Bridge to Quality”, effe...

What is an error in laboratory testing ?  Webster defines Error as “an act or condition of ignorant or imprudent deviation from a code of behavior”.1  A diagnostic error is defined as “the failure to (a) establ...

Brandy Gunsolus has witnessed diagnostic errors as a patient as well as a professional. A decade ago, she started experiencing headaches, a rash – and repeated miscarriages. She went to different specialists...

Setting the stage: 1 in 10 diagnoses are incorrect.1 Diagnostic error accounts for 40,000-80,000 US deaths annually – somewhere between breast cancer and diabetes.1 Chances are we will all experience...