Pharmacists can improve diagnosis and help prevent diagnostic errors

Kiichi Enomoto; Chintaro Kosaka; Toru Kimura; Satoshi Watanuki; Masaru Kurihara; Takashi Watari; Verity Schaye

doi:10.1515/dx-2021-0138

Pharmacists can improve diagnosis and help prevent diagnostic errors

Diagnosis (Berl). 2022 Jan 31;9(3):385-389. doi: 10.1515/dx-2021-0138. eCollection 2022 Aug 1.

Authors

Kiichi Enomoto¹, Chintaro Kosaka², Toru Kimura³, Satoshi Watanuki⁴, Masaru Kurihara⁵, Takashi Watari⁶, Verity Schaye⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Nerima Hikarigaoka Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
² Department of Internal Medicine, Nerima Hikarigaoka Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Rehabilitation, Nerima Hikarigaoka Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Division of Emergency and General Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Department of Patient Safety, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
⁶ General Medicine Center, Shimane University, Shimane, Japan.
⁷ Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

PMID: 35089657
DOI: 10.1515/dx-2021-0138

Abstract

We present two cases that highlight the role of pharmacists in the diagnostic process and illustrate how a culture of safety and teamwork between pharmacists and physicians can help prevent diagnostic errors.

Keywords: diagnosis; diagnostic errors; pharmacists; safety culture; teamwork.

MeSH terms

Diagnostic Errors / prevention & control
Humans
Medication Errors / prevention & control
Pharmacists*
Physicians*