Differential diagnosis: The key to reducing diagnosis error, measuring diagnosis and a mechanism to reduce healthcare costs
Open accessAbstract
Differential diagnosis has been taught in medical schools for over 100 years and yet it is not routinely carried out in practice; nor is it required to be documented within medical notes. I strongly believe that the routine use of a differential diagnosis would not only substantially reduce the level of diagnostic error but would also greatly reduce the cost of healthcare. This solution to the seemingly intractable problems of diagnostic error and rising healthcare costs is simple and has been with us for 100 years!
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Using multiple hypotheses and conducting a differential diagnosis can reduce the bias of having a single hypothesis and erroneous conclusions.
“Using multiple hypotheses and conducting a differential diagnosis (a process of generating and considering multiple alternative hypotheses that can explain the same evidence) can reduce the bias of having a single hypothesis and erroneous conclusions (Maude, 2014).”
From Biased and biasing: the hidden bias cascade and bias snowball effects (2025) · cites this paper as Maude, 2014
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- Authors
- Maude, J.
- Affiliations
- Haslemere Hospital (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Maude, Jason
- Venue
- Diagnosis
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2014-01-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 107-109
- ISSN
- 2194-8011 (ISSN-L)
- 2194-802X
- OpenAlex
- W2170596197
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 1.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Diagnosis (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare cost, quality, practices
- Keywords
- differential diagnosis, diagnostic errors, health care costs, clinical documentation, medical education, clinical decision-making
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