Supporting Nurses as Essential Partners in Diagnosis

Reframing diagnosis as a team-based process, with nurses included as essential partners, has been neither quick nor easy to accomplish. Over the past few years, there has been progress, but nurses and other members of the care team continue to encounter barriers to being recognized as partners in the diagnostic process.

Read the ImproveDx Newsletter

Closing the Loop on Diagnostic Error

Constellation and SIDM have established a Collaborative focused on improving the diagnostic process during two of the three key stages of the diagnostic process: tests and results processing and follow-up and coordination. Clinic, hospital, and health system teams interested in improving the diagnostic process are encouraged to join the Collaborative and access virtual education sessions, webinars, coaching calls, and meetings.

Join the Collaborative

Building Trust, Improving Diagnosis

Read the latest issue of ACT Update to learn how ABIM Foundation's Building Trust initiative aims to address diagnostic safety, and how the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis has helped shape their diagnostic improvement work.

Read ACT Update

How Seniors Can Avoid Misdiagnosis

An old joke goes, aging is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. However, it matters very much when aging gets in the way of an accurate diagnosis. Seniors are misdiagnosed more often than younger adults and can be harmed more by it than younger bodies are. Read our latest Dx IQ Column to learn more.

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Long COVID Gains Acceptance as Many Questions Remain Unanswered

The past year has been an exercise in humility. For all that was quickly learned about the new SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19, there have been constant reminders of what is not yet known, including the infection’s long-term implications. Read the latest ImproveDx Newsletter to learn more.

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Announcement from Paul Epner, SIDM CEO

Read a message to the SIDM community from Paul Epner, SIDM CEO.

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Paul Epner, SIDM CEO

Tools for Co-Creating Patient-Centered Comparative Effectiveness Research

Are you interested in conducting diagnostic comparative effectiveness research (CER), but you don’t know where to start? SIDM's resources and tools can help you translate your issue or topic into a CER question and identify opportunities and methods to co-create your research concept with patient research partners.

Access the Toolkit

COVID-19: The Diagnostic Challenge

The December 2020 issue of Diagnosis, SIDM's peer-reviewed journal, is currently available online. This is a special issue on COVID-19: The Diagnostic Challenge, and all of the articles in this issue are free to access.

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New Resources to Address Diagnostic Error

SIDM has released two new guides for hospitals and health systems in reducing harm from diagnostic errors, leveraging the lived-experience, insights and expertise of Patient Family Advisory Councils (PFACs).

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Diagnosis and Telemedicine – What are the Important Research Questions?

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the usage of telemedicine overnight, establishing it as a mainstay for healthcare delivery and diagnosis. A new project convened by SIDM, funded by PCORI, will bring together a multi-stakeholder group to make recommendations on the research most needed by the field.

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One in 10 Patients with a ‘Big Three’
Disease Misdiagnosed

One in 10 people (9.6%) with symptoms caused by a major vascular event, infection, or cancer will be misdiagnosed, according to a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CRICO Strategies.

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Coalition Members Respond to COVID-19

Many of our Coalition to Improve Diagnosis members are on the front lines working diligently to test and diagnose patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to provide timely and useful information regarding COVID-19, our members have developed a wide range of resources, including toolkits, live chats, webinars, community groups and more.

Resources

Creating a world where no patients are harmed by diagnostic error.

SIDM catalyzes and leads change to improve diagnosis and eliminate harm from diagnostic error, in partnership with patients, their families, the healthcare community and every interested stakeholder.

Support Our Mission

Patients

Patients and family members have a significant opportunity to contribute to diagnostic accuracy and timeliness by actively participating in the diagnostic process. But often, they don't know the questions to ask, the information to offer, or the steps to take to improve diagnosis.

Resources

Clinical Teams

Every member of the clinical team has a role to play in ensuring that diagnoses are accurate, timely and communicated to the patient. SIDM offers resources for clinical team members to improve cognitive skills and work within their health systems to improve the diagnostic process.

Resources

Medical Educators

Improving diagnosis requires continued investment in medical education, leveraging trainees, practitioners, and educators to address gaps in the system and focus on the teams that contribute to accurate and timely diagnostics. SIDM's resources for medical educators examine clinical reasoning and system factors that underlie diagnostic error, and offer tools and strategies to to bring diagnostic quality and safety into the medical education curriculum.

Resources

Researchers

Whether you're an established researcher or just joining the diagnostic error research community, SIDM offers a variety of resources to help advance research efforts in the field. Explore existing literature, engage with your peers, and join the conversation as we work to foster the growth of the research community.

Resources

Advocacy

Despite the fact that diagnostic error likely accounts for more patient harm than all other medical errors combined, federal investment in research to improve diagnosis amounts to about $7 million per year, or just .02% of the total $35 billion federal health research budget. Learn how you can support efforts to expand funding for research.

Resources

1 in 3

One-third of malpractice cases that result in death or permanent disability stem from an inaccurate or delayed diagnosis, making it the number one cause of serious harms among medical errors.

*Research published in Diagnosis

 

Diagnostic errors affect an estimated 12 million Americans each year, and likely cause more harm to patients than all other medical errors combined.

*Research published in BMJ Quality & Safety

Roughly 40,000‐80,000 deaths in U.S. hospitals each year can be attributed to diagnostic error. It’s about the same number of people who die annually from breast cancer or diabetes.

*From Improving Diagnosis in Health Care

Programs & Initiatives

Explore how we're helping improve the accuracy and timeliness of diagnosis.

DxQI Seeed Grant Program

Inaccurate or delayed diagnosis is the most common, catastrophic, and costly type of medical error. Through the DxQI Seed Grant Program, SIDM will award grants to support specific quality improvement work directed towards improving diagnosis.

Call for Proposals

Collaborating to Improve Diagnosis

The Coalition to Improve Diagnosis is comprised of 60+ healthcare organizations working to find solutions that enhance diagnostic quality and safety, reduce harm and ultimately, ensure better health outcomes for patients.

Coalition to Improve Diagnosis

Diagnosis and Telemedicine

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the usage of telemedicine overnight, establishing it as a mainstay for healthcare delivery and diagnosis. To navigate this new era of “telediagnosis,” SIDM will convene a series of conversations about TeleDx research priorities.

Telediagnosis Project

In the News

Medical team discussing with each other at the table in hospital

Moore Foundation Advances Work in Clinical Quality Measures to Improve Diagnosis

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has a mission to improve the experiences and outcomes of patient care. The foundation’s Diagnostic Excellence Initiative is focused on work to reduce harm from diagnostic errors and improve quality in diagnosis.

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From the Field: Call for Workshops

SIDM recently issued a Call for Workshops for the conference where they are seeking high quality interactive workshops that provide conference attendees with actionable knowledge or key takeaways. The Call for Workshops closes April 6; a Call for Abstracts will be announced in mid-April.

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Conversations with Hospitals, Health Systems & Clinical Practices on Telediagnosis

Although telemedicine has been available for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed its usage overnight. SIDM is leading an effort to capture and synthesize information about the early successes, the greatest challenges, and the most critical unanswered questions in the use of TeleDx.

Read the Summary Document

Millennial employees gathered in boardroom for training, black boss ceo leader leading corporate team during seminar learning at modern office. Internship and leadership coaching and education concept (Millennial employees gathered in boardroom for tr

SIDM Launches Two New Quality and Safety Resources

SIDM has released a new online toolkit to support diagnostic quality and safety researchers in developing patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) and an interactive Diagnostic Process Map to support education about the diagnostic process as conceptualized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) in a consensus report, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care.

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DxQI Seed Grant Program

SIDM has established the DxQI Seed Grant Program to engage healthcare organizations in efforts to identify, develop, and test interventions aimed at improving diagnostic quality and reducing harm from diagnostic error.

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Join the Online Community

Become a part of SIDM's online community and
start conversations, discover resources, and network with your peers.

Join the Community