Error and cognitive bias in diagnostic radiology

Errors in diagnostic radiology are not infrequent. Patient harm related to these errors is however less common and may be avoided via various preventative mechanisms within the medical system including, but not limited to, multidisciplinary meetings, second opinions, subspecialty expertise and clinician experience. Failure at a number of points in the system is often required to result in patient harm. Radiologists, and in particular departmental leaders, should proactively address the known underlying root causes of diagnostic errors and cognitive biases, ensure systems are in place to promptly discover and control unmitigated root causes as they arise and ensure an unbiased 'blameless' or 'just' culture of error investigation and proces sing including the implementation of non-punitive peer feedback and peer learning. This article provides an overview of errors in diagnostic radiology including the causes and potential ramifications and how we might reduce their frequency and impact.