PULMONARY EMBOLISM PART 2

Course overview

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the most serious complication of venous thrombosis and is the third most common cause of death in the United States, with at least 780,000 clinically apparent cases occurring annually. The overwhelming majority of deaths from PE are not the result of therapeutic failure; most are the result of prophylactic oversight or diagnostic error. Many instances of venous thromboembolism and PE are preventable, and for this reason are important causes of adverse outcomes and medical malpractice litigation. Practitioners must be extremely familiar with this entity in order to improve patient safety and avoid medical errors and adverse outcomes. The delay or failure to diagnose PE is presented in two separate activities. In this activity, Pulmonary Embolism Part 2, we focus on PE presenting as pneumonia and syncope, documentation, and diagnostic techniques. After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: integrate awareness of the high frequency of the missed diagnosis of PE and the reasons for the failure to diagnose PE into clinical practice in order to improve patient safety, improve documentation and decrease the risk of exposure to medical malpractice; distinguish between the presentation of PE and the presentations of pneumonia, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and syncope in order to accurately diagnose PE; and integrate the key clinical positives and negatives into the medical record of patients who present with signs or symptoms of PE in order to demonstrate consideration of an appropriate differential diagnosis and decrease allegations of medical negligence.