Overconfidence as a Cause of Diagnostic Error in Medicine

 I consider making the proper diagnosis the epitome of internal medicine (as well as many other specialties.)  We know that we often miss diagnoses, but we often do not know why.  This article gives a classic example of medical error.

If you see nothing wrong, try again. It took us several tries.

This case is an example of  “a horse masquerading as a zebra.” Why didn’t we see the horse? To help answer the question, Dr. Ginsberg uses  this picture of how the mind may not perceive a visual abnormality.

The current American Journal of Medicine has an interesting article on diagnostic error -Overconfidence as a Cause of Diagnostic Error in Medicine.  This article is long and detailed.  I recommend it only for those who want to study this problem in depth.