Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To test the previously described misdiagnosis severity score (MSS) by comparing it with doctors' perceptions of the severity of diagnostic errors. METHODS: 14 scenarios of diagnostic errors were described on a questionnaire. These were given to 12 accident and emergency (A&E) consultants who were asked to indicate their assessment of the severity of the errors on a scale of 1 to 10. RESULTS: There was a highly significant concordance between doctors' rankings of the diagnostic errors, and between the MSS and the mean severity as assessed by the A&E consultants. CONCLUSIONS: It is reasonable to use the MSS as a measure of the severity of diagnostic errors.