ECRI has published a report titled “Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2025.”
According to the list, disregard for patient, family, and caregiver concerns is the #1 danger to a patent’s safety. ECRI defines this as “medical gaslighting.” However, it is not always deliberate on the physician’s part. Even if the gaslighting is unknown, it can still negatively affect patients, resulting in later diagnoses, delayed wellness, breached trust, etc.
ECRI cited a HealthCentral survey stating, “More than 94% of patients reported instances when their symptoms were ignored or dismissed by a doctor.” According to ECRI, “medical gaslighting can happen when clinicians are rushed for time, have biases that reflexively attribute symptoms to issues like mental illness, age, or weight, or make cognitive errors like interpreting new information in a way that confirms a previous diagnosis.” The organization calls for better patient safety initiatives across all sectors. ECRI offers safety guidance in their report.
Additional concerns are cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and diagnostic errors.
