Thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) is one of the most dramatic and life-threatening conditions encountered in all of medicine. Limited clinical exposure combined with a condition of highly variable presentation contributes to the potential for delayed or missed diagnosis. Delays in diagnosis and treatment may result in permanent disability or death. The failure to diagnose TAD continues to represent a significant problem in the practice of medicine. This remains a critical issue from both patient safety and medical error perspectives. Practitioners should be aware of the signs and symptoms that suggest acute aortic dissection and should take the same risk-managed approach to every patient presenting with pain in the chest, back, and/or abdomen.
In this activity, we review the anatomy and clinical features of TAD, present and discuss four cases in order to demonstrate some of the most common reasons the diagnosis of TAD is delayed, missed, or inappropriately managed, and provide evidence-based/best practice recommendations. After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: apply evidence-based guidelines to evaluate patients presenting with complaints that may represent TAD in order to estimate pretest risk of TAD; identify the signs and symptoms consistent with malperfusion syndromes found in patients with acute aortic dissection; and determine when a patient encounter may involve heuristics and biases, or cognitive dispositions to respond, in order to improve clinical decision-making and reduce the incidence of the failure to diagnose TAD.
- Provider:The Sullivan Group
- Activity Link: https://www.thesullivangroup.com/RSQSolutions/course-purchase-home/
- Start Date: 2022-08-18 05:00:00
- End Date: 2022-08-18 05:00:00
- Credit Details: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™️: 2.0 hours
- Commercial Support: No
- Activity Type: Enduring Material
- CME Finder Type: Online Learning
- Fee to Participate: Variable
- Measured Outcome: Learner Competence, Learner Knowledge, Learner Performance, Patient Health
- Provider Ship: Directly Provided
- Registration: Open to all