Box 1.

SAFER AAA’S

S = Have you excluded the serious, ‘must-not-miss’ diagnoses?

A = Have you considered the alternative, ‘must-always-consider’ diagnoses?

F = Have you checked for any findings that do not fit with your preliminary diagnosis, or fit better with a different diagnosis?

E = Have you considered that this could be an early/atypical presentation of something serious?

R = Have you checked for the red flags and risk factors for a serious illness or complication?

A = Have you assessed the patient and the quantity and quality of the information gathered?

A = Have you analysed the preliminary diagnosis, or only relied on pattern recognition?

A = Have you avoided a diagnostic reasoning malfunction or dysfunction?

S = Have you safety-netted the patient?