AJR Podcasts Diagnostic Stewardship: AJR Podcast Series on Diagnostic Excellence and Error, Episode 3
Aug 28, 2024
Daniel Morgan, an infectious disease physician and professor at the University of Maryland, dives into the importance of diagnostic stewardship. He discusses strategies to optimize test selection and the need for collaboration among healthcare professionals to reduce errors. The conversation highlights the balance between necessary and excessive testing, especially regarding antimicrobial resistance. Morgan also examines the integration of automated rules in decision-making and the pivotal role of allied health professionals in enhancing diagnostic processes.
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Essence of Diagnostic Stewardship
- Diagnostic stewardship optimizes the ordering, processing, and reporting of diagnostics to improve patient outcomes.
- It moves beyond overuse reduction to ensuring tests prompt the right clinical actions.
Balancing Testing Optimally
- Diagnostic stewardship aims usually to reduce low-value testing while ensuring necessary tests are done.
- The potential harm is under-testing, but examples of this are rare.
Stewardship Prevents Diagnostic Error
- Diagnostic stewardship can reduce diagnostic errors by reducing wrong and delayed diagnoses caused by inappropriate test use.
- Improved test use helps avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.