Insights from the Armstrong Institute
In 2013, a 52-year-old man went to an emergency department complaining of dizziness. Physicians evaluated him, decided that it was a benign condition — as… Read More »Common Symptoms, Uncommon Causes: Reducing Misdiagnosis on the Front Lines
In the technology-thick landscape of modern health care, the physical exam remains in a backwoods. Sure, there have been advances — blood-pressure cuffs, for example,… Read More »Reinventing the Physical Exam
Health care has been thinking about medical errors for nearly 20 years, starting with the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report “To Err is Human.” This… Read More »Thinking Outside the Hospital: A Call to Action for Outpatient Safety
Every American will experience a missed or delayed diagnosis at some point in his or her lifetime. Saying that is not a scare tactic —… Read More »How Teamwork Can Reduce Missed Diagnoses
There has been no shortage of blame for the poisoning of Flint, Michigan's water supply. In March, a governor-appointed task force issued a report that… Read More »How the Flint Water Crisis Is a Cautionary Tale for Health Care
For anyone with a serious medical condition, frequent hospitalizations and clinic visits can have a profoundly disruptive impact. Yet adolescent and teenage patients have a… Read More »What Teenage Patients — and Their Parents — Want from Their Care Team
Tens of thousands of people owe their lives to extracorporeal life support (ECLS) — a treatment that uses mechanical devices to perform the work of… Read More »Improving the Odds for a Chance at Life
How would you react if you sent your sputtering car to the auto mechanic, and they stopped trying to diagnose the problem after 15 minutes?… Read More »The Risks of the 15-Minute Doctor’s Appointment
Trine Engebretsen was clinging to life. It was the early 1980s, and the girl had a genetic liver disorder that would kill her if she… Read More »It’s Not All About the Checklist: The Power of Believing and Belonging
In recent years, Johns Hopkins Medicine has grown increasingly sophisticated in its use of patient safety and quality dashboards, not just to spur internal improvement… Read More »5 Lessons for Creating Health Care Performance Dashboards