Satisfaction of search error

Last revised by Yahya Baba ◉ on 31 Oct 2021

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Knipe H, Baba Y, Murphy A, et al. Satisfaction of search error. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 31 May 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-31220

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-31220

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/31220?iframe=true

rID:

31220

Article created:

25 Sep 2014, Henry Knipe ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Henry Knipe had no recorded disclosures.

View Henry Knipe's current disclosures

Last revised:

31 Oct 2021, Yahya Baba ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Yahya Baba had no recorded disclosures.

View Yahya Baba's current disclosures

Revisions:

11 times, by 8 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Sections:

Approach

Tags:

error, stub

Synonyms:

SOS error
SOS errors

Satisfaction of search (SOS) error is a common error in diagnostic radiology. It occurs when the reporting radiologist fails to continue to search for subsequent abnormalities after identifying an initial one. This initial detection of an abnormality satisfies the "search for meaning" and the reporting of the case is prematurely ended ^1,2.

In emergency medicine, satisfaction of search errors are referred to as premature closure ³. This may entail identifying two or more totally independent pathologies or two or more findings which together take a case from a differential list to a definitive diagnosis ⁵.

Perceptual capture of attention

The theory that after one identifies an abnormality, a reader halts a search early, is only one of the many theories into how satisfaction of search errors occur. Studies have suggested that an initial captured lesion/abnormality may divert precise cognitive attention leading to perceptual errors rather than search errors ⁴.