Association of diagnostic error education and recognition frequency among Japanese medical students: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Diagnostic errors pose a significant risk to patient safety and have substantial medical and economic consequences. Despite their importance, diagnostic error education is currently lacking in standard pre-graduate curricula. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of diagnostic errors and the frequency of recognition among medical students in Japan. Methods A pilot survey was conducted immediately after the General Medicine In-Training Examination (GM-ITE), a comprehensive post-graduation test, administered to new residents right after graduation from medical school. The survey assessed whether they received education on diagnostic errors during their formal undergraduate medical education and whether they recognized diagnostic errors during their clinical training. Results Of the 564 examinees, 421 participated in the study. The majority of participants (63.9 %) reported receiving education on diagnostic errors, and 15.7 % recognized diagnostic errors during their clinical training. Significantly, those who received education on diagnostic errors had a higher rate of recognizing such errors compared to those who did not (19.7 vs. 8.6 %; p=0.0017). Conclusions These findings suggest that the recognition rate of diagnostic errors increases with improved literacy in diagnostic error education. This highlights the importance of incorporating diagnostic error education into medical curricula to develop effective strategies to prevent and manage diagnostic errors, and thereby enhance medical and patient safety. However, this study did not examine the specific educational content of the errors or the details of the recognition, necessitating further investigation in the future.