Learning from Missed Opportunities Through Reflective Practice

Identification of diagnostic errors is difficult but is not alone sufficient for performance improvement. Instead, cases must be reflected on to identify ways to improve decision-making in the future. There are many tools and modalities to retrospectively reflect on action to study medical decisions and outcomes and improve future performance. Reflection in action-in which diagnostic decisions are considered in real-time-may also improve medical decision-making especially through strategies such as structured reflection. Ongoing regular feedback can normalize the discussion about improving decision-making, enable reflective practice, and improve decision making.