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China to Set Standards Checking Misdiagnosis
A series of standards will be set in China to identify cases of misdiagnosis, according to sources with a medical seminar recently held in Chongqing, this municipality in southwest China.
Despite the wide application of advanced medical instruments, the misdiagnosis rate has not been reduced, Professor Zhang Jingjian, deputy president of the Chinese Misdiagnosis Research Association, told Xinhua.
According to statistics, the average misdiagnosis rate in China stands at 30 percent, and almost above 40 percent for certain difficult and complicated cases.
For instance, of the 486 patients who received rectal cancer operation in Shanxi Tumor Hospital from January 1995 to January 1998, 340 had been misdiagnosed as having benign tumors in other hospitals, marking a misdiagnosis rate of 70 percent.
So far, there has been no unified and systematic recognition of the concept, definition and standards of misdiagnosis in China, sources said.
However, the research on misdiagnosis have drawn wide attention and has been accepted by an increasingly large number of medical workers.
The seminar was attended by more than 100 medical experts, who will jointly come up with a series of standards, with which the misdiagnosis of certain common diseases could be easily identified and thus be cured in time.
The standards for misdiagnosis of difficult and complicated cases will also be initiated step by step.
Whether the doctors have a full understanding of the examination results, the medical history and symptoms of the patients, have properly chosen and used the examination equipment, and have treated the patients correctly will be the main content of the standards.
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