Sekete Lesaoana
MASERU, Lesotho – Diagnostic errors in health facilities account for nearly 16% of preventable harm to patients across health systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) Lesotho country representative, Dr Mary Stephen said this during the observation of the World Patient Safety Day in Maseru on Tuesday.
Dr Stephen said it was estimated that one in 10 diagnoses were probably wrong and most adults were likely to face at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime. Therefore, this left room for substantial work that needed to be done to improve the safety of diagnostic processes.
She added that the safety of patients was her organisation’s top priority “and is inherent in all our efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals 6”. SDG 6 seeks to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all, focusing on the sustainable management of water resources, wastewater, and ecosystems, and acknowledging the importance of an enabling environment.
A diagnosis identifies a patient’s health problem. To reach a diagnosis, patients and their healthcare teams must work together to navigate the complex and sometimes lengthy diagnostic process.
“The observation of the World Patient Safety Day allows us to highlight these important aspects of our work, as it is celebrated every year on 17 September to raise awareness of the importance of people-centred care and preventing patient harm. Successive annual celebrations since 2019 highlight specific themes that represent a priority area in patient safety. It is my pleasure to be part of this year’s World Patient Safety Day celebration with the theme, “Improving diagnosis for patient safety” with the “slogan, get it right, make it safe”,” Dr Stephen said. She said the theme and slogan highlighted the importance of correct and timely diagnoses in ensuring patient safety and improving health outcomes.
She said the WHO Resolution 72.6 and the global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 highlighted the need for ensuring the safety of the diagnosis processes. Dr Stephen explained that the global action plan encouraged countries to adopt strategies that reduced diagnostic errors, which often arose from a combination of cognitive and system factors that impact the recognition of patients’ key signs and symptoms, and the interpretation and communication of their test results.
“A diagnostic error is a failure to establish a correct and timely explanation of a patient’s health problem, which can include delayed, incorrect, or missed diagnoses or a failure to communicate an explanation to the patient. Through the slogan “Get it right, make it safe”, WHO calls for concerted efforts to significantly reduce diagnostic errors through multifaceted interventions rooted in systems thinking, human factors, and active engagement of patients, their families, health workers, and health care leaders,” she said.
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During the commemorations, stakeholders and WHO member states were urged to raise global awareness on errors in diagnosis contributing to patient harm and emphasise the pivotal role of correct, timely, and safe diagnosis in improving patient safety and that prominence be given to diagnostic safety in patient safety policy and clinical practice at all levels of healthcare, while it is aligned with the global patient safety action plan 2021-2030.
There is therefore need to improve diagnostic services quality, availability, and accessibility as stated in the global regional strategies and resolutions.
She said it was also imperative to foster collaboration among policymakers, healthcare leaders, health workers, patient organisations, and other stakeholders in advancing correct, timely, and safe diagnosis while also empowering patients and families to actively engage with health workers and healthcare leaders to improve diagnostic processes.
