Term | Value | Language |
---|---|---|
dc.contributor.advisor | Yasen, Alia | |
dc.contributor.author | Catalani, Aleix | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-30T19:11:48Z | |
dc.date.available | 2024-08-30T19:11:48Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/29900 | |
dc.description | 66 pages | |
dc.description.abstract | Nearly every adult in the United States will experience a misdiagnosis in their lifetime.1–3 Each year, 64,000 deaths in the US can be attributed to misdiagnoses, but the true number of undetected cases likely dwarfs this figure.4 The widespread issue of diagnostic error is partly due to the underutilization of laboratory tests as both screening and diagnostic tools. Between 1997 and 2012, the rates of the underutilization and the overutilization of laboratory tests were found to be 44.8% and 20.6%, respectively.5 Still, the underutilization of laboratory tests remains understudied compared to overutilization. Although overutilization studies often emphasize the financial savings associated with cutting out unnecessary tests, focusing on the underused tests to prevent late or missed diagnoses may yield greater cost savings. For instance, the lifetime cost of a single HIV treatment is worth 7,000-20,000 high-sensitivity HIV screening tests.6 It is perhaps unsurprising that issues of misdiagnosis and underusage of laboratory tests disproportionately affect certain racial groups. To illustrate, African American and Hispanic patients were found to be less likely to receive laboratory tests to rule out myocardial infarctions when presenting to the emergency room with chest pain. This scoping review aimed to investigate the underutilization of laboratory tests in the emergency department, inpatient settings, primary care settings, obstetric services, and genetic specialty services through the lenses of racial and financial considerations to answer the following questions: 1. In which healthcare settings is the underutilization of laboratory tests a known concern? 2. Is there a financial incentive to address the problem of the underutilization of certain laboratory tests in healthcare? 3. Do racial biases of healthcare providers or cultural attitudes toward medicine affect the rates of underutilization of laboratory tests between racial groups? | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | |
dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
dc.rights | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | |
dc.subject | Human Physiology | en_US |
dc.subject | Public Health | en_US |
dc.subject | Laboratory Tests | en_US |
dc.subject | Blood Tests | en_US |
dc.subject | Racial Disparity | en_US |
dc.title | The Social and Financial Burdens of the Underutilization of Laboratory Tests: A Scoping Review (January 1997 – January 2024) | |
dc.type | Thesis/Dissertation | |
dc.identifier.orcid | 0009-0002-3542-0040 |