The Power Of A Captivating Yarn

It is reported that over $17 billion is spent and tens of thousands of deaths occur each year resulting from medical error alone. One of the most common medical errors and a top priority for quality initiatives is inaccurate diagnoses – estimated to be 15% of all diagnoses. What if you could reduce these errors by providing your clinicians with a multi-use, visual diagnostic tool without the hassle of cross-referencing multiple text books? VisualDX is shown to increase diagnostic accuracy 124%.

Jason Bernard is an internal medicine attending at Strong Memorial Hospital. In between completing a cardiology fellowship, supervising a frantic flock of medical students, and butting heads with residents, he valiantly attempts to greet each patient by their first name.

One morning, after pulling a grave yard shift Dr. Bernard was explaining a cardiac catheterization procedure to Steve Wallis, a patient, when he noticed a scaly rash on Steve’s arm. Initially, Dr. Bernard shrugged it off as eczema, but then he noticed Steve also had slightly enlarged lymph nodes.

Deciding to enter his patient’s history, and symptoms into VisualDX, within seconds Dr. Bernard narrowed the diagnosis down to two possibilities: benign eczema or T-cell lymphoma, a skin cancer whose early symptoms mimic eczema. To rule out the latter option, Dr. Bernard took a skin biopsy of Steve’s rash, sending it to a dermatologist for review. The results came back positive for T-cell lymphoma, but fortunately for Steve they caught the disease early before it spread to his internal organs.

Here’s what Dr. Bernard had to say about that particular diagnosis,Each day I make thousands, often instant decisions that affect the lives of my patients and their families. Years of formal education, and practical experience are my foundation, but I’m grateful VisualDX is there to fill in the inevitable gaps.