ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the basics of clinical reasoning, cognitive errors, and diagnostic errors and what can be done to remedy these errors with currently available technology and human intelligence. Typically, when a patient comes into a clinic or physician’s office, they are asked to describe their chief complaint and to fill out a detailed checklist that covers all the major organ systems. That information is then used to guide the clinician’s choice of additional questions, which usually includes a history of the present illness and a family history. Completely eliminating diagnostic errors is virtually impossible, but there are numerous solutions that can lessen this burden on patients and the healthcare ecosystem. One of the most dramatic diagnostic errors in recent memory occurred when the first patient with Ebola infection entered the United States and slipped through the cracks.
