Addressing diagnostic uncertainty and excellence in emergency care-from multicountry policy analysis to communication practice in Australian emergency departments: a multimethod study protocol.

Introduction: Communication failings may compromise the diagnostic process and pose a risk to quality of care and patient safety. With a focus on emergency care settings, this project aims to examine the critical role and impact of communication in the diagnostic process, including in diagnosis-related health and research policy, and diagnostic patient-clinician interactions in emergency departments (EDs).

Methods And Analysis: This project uses a qualitatively driven multimethod design integrating findings from two research studies to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of context and communication on diagnostic excellence from diverse perspectives.