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Dismissing patient concerns 2025's top patient safety threat

Dismissing patient concerns can have adverse patient safety consequences like dismissed diagnosis and delayed care.

Sara Heath
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Published: 11 Mar 2025

Not listening to your patients? That's now considered one of the biggest threats to patient safety, according to ECRI's Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns of 2025 report.

The report, released annually, features numerous first-time topics, ECRI said. Chief among them is the risk of dismissing patient, family or caregiver concerns. Dismissing these concerns can often lead to misdiagnoses and delays in treatment plans, the patient safety nonprofit said.

Rounding out the top patient safety concerns for 2025 are the following:

  • Insufficient governance of AI in healthcare.
  • The breadth and availability of medical misinformation combined with limited health literacy.
  • Medical errors and delays in care resulting from cybersecurity breaches.
  • Unique healthcare issues facing veterans.
  • Substandard and falsified drugs.
  • Diagnostic errors in cancers, major vascular events and infections.
  • Persistence of healthcare-associated infections in long-term care facilities.
  • Inadequate communication and care coordination during discharge.
  • Deteriorating community pharmacy working conditions and their impact on medication errors and staff safety.

Mitigating the risk of dismissing patient concerns

ECRI's most pressing patient safety concern for this year relates to patient-provider communication. In particular, the organization warned of the dangers of dismissing patient, family or caregiver concerns.

Indeed, this is a common issue, ECRI said. Data has shown that more than 94% of patients have felt like their symptoms were ignored or dismissed by their doctor. This can feel like "medical gaslighting" or invalidating a patient's medical concern without requisite medical evaluation.

Medical gaslighting can look like the dismissal of symptoms or minimizing their severity, ignoring or interrupting patients, misattributing symptoms, refusing follow-ups or tests and blaming the patient. Blame can look like condescension, ECRI said, such as indicating that the patient is exaggerating their concerns.

Few healthcare providers are acting out of malice, ECRI pointed out. Healthcare is a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. That environment, coupled with the complexity of patient care, sets the scene for providers to miss or dismiss patient concerns.

Preconceived notions about certain symptoms, implicit biases, challenges or confusion about nonspecific complaints or symptoms and cognitive biases can also lead clinicians to dismiss patient issues.

Still, dismissal of patient questions and concerns carries risk, ECRI said.

Half of patients report that their symptoms worsen after their providers dismiss their symptoms. Moreover, 28% of patients said they've experienced a medical emergency due to limited provider engagement with their reported symptoms.

These problems occur in some demographics more often than others. Data shows that Black patients, especially Black women, are more likely to have their symptoms dismissed by their providers. This is particularly problematic when looking at pain management.

Dismissing a patient's symptoms and concerns can ultimately damage patient trust, ECRI noted. Damaged trust and the impact this can have on healthcare access run the risk of perpetuating medical issues and exacerbating chronic conditions.

ECRI recommended healthcare organizations reset their goals to foster better patient-provider relationships. Outlining "never words" that can shame or blame the patient, examining scheduling to ensure providers have enough time with patients and creating workforce diversity will be key.

Moreover, a learning system focused on patient safety and better patient-provider relationships will empower clinicians with the knowledge necessary to fully investigate patient symptoms, ECRI concluded.

Sara Heath has covered news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.

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