Anyone who has ever stood in line at a pharmacy in Arizona knows that they can be busy places. In addition to filling orders, pharmacists must counsel patients, communicate with insurers and perform other tasks. New research shows that the busier a pharmacist is, the greater likelihood there is of making a mistake.
Arizona patients may have heard horror stories about medical mistakes like wrong-site surgeries or botched prescriptions, but they may not be aware of another common doctor error: misdiagnosis. Studies indicate that physicians get diagnoses wrong 5 to 15 percent of the time, and the consequences can be deadly.
Patients who are misdiagnosed could suffer serious injury or even death. One man was diagnosed with sinusitis when he actually had Ebola, and he infected two nurses after returning to the hospital two days after the initial diagnosis. The man eventually succumbed to the disease.
Arizona patients may be interested in a new study in which the authors claim that there is no significant risk increase for surgery when the doctor has not slept the night before the procedure. The study’s findings are contradictory with other research, a fact that has been pointed out by the author of a similar study from 2009.
Arizona residents might want to increase their knowledge about the prevalence and dangers associated with medical overdiagnosis. Under the circumstances of overdiagnosis, the disease is diagnosed with the correct treatment, but it’s often administered too early, at a point where it could actually be detrimental to the patient.
