Typology of errors of omission | Patient teaching |
| Health maintenance |
| Medication education |
| Review of tests and diagnostics with patient |
| Diet education |
| Healthy lifestyle education |
| Physical activity recommendations |
| Weight management |
| Preprocedural education |
| Patient Followup |
| Followup about test results |
| Followup about referrals |
| Followup on provider recommendations |
| Emotional support |
| Family and caregiver support |
| Review of patient coping mechanisms |
| Social wellbeing |
| Mental health needs |
| Depression screening |
| “Mental health not part of primary care” |
Factors leading to omissions | Time Constraints |
| Overbooking of appointments |
| Time spent on documentation |
| Increased complexity of patient visits |
| Time spent on phone with insurance companies to gain approvals for diagnostic testing |
| Unplanned patient visits and emergencies |
| Urgent change in patient medical status |
| Unstable patient |
| Patient volume |
| Unexpected patient emergencies |
| Open scheduling |
| Administrative burden |
| Lack of support staff |
| Influx of telephone messages to answer |
Omission safeguards | Organizational support and infrastructure |
| Designated time allotted for administrative work (eg, answering patient phone calls; paperwork) |
| Enough patient care resources (eg, exam rooms; support staff) |
| Adequate staffing |
| Effective teamwork and communication |
| Effective team communication |
| Respect for team members |
| Preparation for the patient encounter |
| Easy access to patient history and plan of care |
| Review of patient care documentation |