Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the most serious complication of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and remains the third leading cause of cardiovascular death in the United States, with hundreds of thousands of cases each year. Most PE-related deaths result not from treatment failure but from missed prevention opportunities or diagnostic error. Because many cases of VTE and PE are preventable, failures in recognition and diagnosis are significant contributors to patient harm and malpractice claims. Clinicians must maintain a high level of vigilance to improve patient safety and reduce adverse outcomes. The delay or failure to diagnose PE is addressed in two separate activities. This activity focuses on risk factors and vital sign abnormalities associated with missed or delayed PE diagnosis. Through case-based discussion, it highlights how failure to recognize risk factors and abnormal vital sign patterns particularly pulse temperature disparity in the setting of tachycardia can contribute to diagnostic error. After completing this activity, practitioners and the healthcare team should be able to: integrate awareness of the reasons for the failure to diagnose PE into clinical practice to enhance clinical judgment, strengthen documentation practices, and mitigate medicolegal risk; apply risk factor analysis during patient assessment to identify individuals at elevated risk for PE based on presenting symptoms and clinical context; and evaluate vital sign patterns specifically pulse temperature disparity in the context of tachycardia to support early recognition and timely intervention for PE.
Credit & MOC Details
Credit information is provided by the course provider. We recommend confirming credit eligibility with the provider or your licensing board before starting the activity.
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- Addiction Medicine
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Clinical Informatics
- Clinician Wellness & Burnout
- Communication & Shared Decision-Making
- Critical Care Medicine
- Diagnostic Radiology
- Emergency Medicine
- Family Medicine
- General & Adult Psychiatry
- General Internal Medicine
- General Operative Anesthesia
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- Health Equity & Inclusion
- Hospital Medicine
- Infectious Disease
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- Medical Leadership & Administration
- Neurology
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- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases
- Pediatric Urology
- Practice Management & Ethics
- Surgical Critical Care
- Trauma Surgery
- Urology
- Vascular Neurology
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- Cross-Specialty
- Emergency & Critical Care
- Infectious Disease
- Internal Medicine
- Medical Subspecialties
- Neurology
- Ob/Gyn
- Orthopedics
- Pediatrics
- Primary care
- Psychiatry
- Radiology
- Surgery
- Urology
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- Case-based learning
- Credit · Up to 2 credits
- Fee · varies
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ReleasedMay 28, 2025
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Last day to claim creditMay 28, 2028 2 years left
