A Research Agenda for Diagnostic Excellence in Critical Care Medicine

Christina L Cifra; Jason W Custer; James C Fackler

doi:10.1016/j.ccc.2021.07.003

A Research Agenda for Diagnostic Excellence in Critical Care Medicine

Crit Care Clin. 2022 Jan;38(1):141-157. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2021.07.003.

Authors

Christina L Cifra¹, Jason W Custer², James C Fackler³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA. Electronic address: christina-cifra@uiowa.edu.
² Division of Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, 22 S Greene St, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Medical Director of Patient Safety, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ Division of Pediatric Anesthesia and Critical Care, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Johns Hopkins Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center, 1800 Orleans St, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/@jimfackler.

Abstract

Diagnosing critically ill patients in the intensive care unit is difficult. As a result, diagnostic errors in the intensive care unit are common and have been shown to cause harm. Research to improve diagnosis in critical care medicine has accelerated in past years. However, much work remains to fully elucidate the diagnostic process in critical care. To achieve diagnostic excellence, interdisciplinary research is needed, adopting a balanced strategy of continued biomedical discovery while addressing the complex care delivery systems underpinning the diagnosis of critical illness.

Keywords: Critical care; Diagnosis; Diagnostic error; Intensive care unit; Misdiagnosis; Patient safety.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Critical Care*
Critical Illness*
Humans
Intensive Care Units

Grants and funding

K08 HS026965/HS/AHRQ HHS/United States