- ECRI, a global healthcare safety nonprofit, has identified dismissing patient, family, and caregiver concerns as the most significant threat to patient safety in 2025.

- This alarming finding highlights a critical issue where time constraints, resource limitations, and unconscious biases lead to unaddressed patient concerns, potentially resulting in missed diagnoses and delayed treatments.

The Prevalence of "Medical Gaslighting"

A staggering 94% of patients report instances where their symptoms were ignored or dismissed by a doctor, according to a HealthCentral survey. ECRI experts explain that this phenomenon, often referred to as "medical gaslighting," is not typically intentional. It occurs when clinicians, often under pressure, invalidate a patient's genuine clinical concern without proper medical evaluation.

Factors contributing to medical gaslighting include:

ECRI emphasizes that patient safety events are often rooted in systemic issues, not isolated incidents. Addressing this threat requires a holistic approach that considers:

ECRI's Recommendations and Top 10 Concerns

ECRI offers system-based recommendations, including examining scheduling policies and providing education on often-misunderstood conditions.

The top 10 patient safety concerns for 2025, according to ECRI, are: