I flew from Philadelphia to Rochester, Minn., to be seen in the Mayo Clinic’s world-renowned diagnostic center. But that diagnostic model does not readily exist in our healthcare system. They needed a team of colleagues and time allotted to discuss my case with them, with me in attendance. I met a handful of doctors who listened carefully, thought deeply, and researched possible diagnoses for my case they studied my symptoms beyond the exam room, but when they fell short, time was up. As a patient, navigating a difficult diagnosis without teamwork or a leader can feel futile.Īt each appointment, I relayed my story to a new physician and left without an answer. That person didn’t exist because primary care physicians are fed up and burnt out. Just as I bounced from one specialist to another, I was continuously searching for a physician to oversee my journey. I couldn’t find a doctor with the necessary time or resources to lead my search. During the 13 years I searched for a diagnosis, I didn’t have a consistent primary healthcare provider. I saw doctors in every specialty, from rheumatology to neurology, orthopedics to endocrinology, and infectious disease to mitochondrial disease experts. If healthcare teams existed, I would have been diagnosed and treated far sooner than I was. I lived with undiagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) for 13 years. Teamwork is one of the IOM’s suggested strategies to shed light on delayed, wrong and missed diagnoses. Hardeep Singh, a renowned expert on diagnostic errors and a reviewer for the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) influential report “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care,” has estimated that one in 20 American adults will experience a misdiagnosis every year.
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