Call for Conference Workshops

Mark your calendar and plan to join stakeholders from around the world interested in improving diagnosis at the Diagnostic Error in Medicine 14th Annual International Conference (SIDM2021), taking place virtually October 25-27, 2021. This year's theme, Reducing Disparities; Improving Diagnosis, will explore how disparities and inequalities contribute to misdiagnosis and diagnostic delays and how social determinates of health can impact clinical decision making.

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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.

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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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Fellowship in Diagnostic Excellence Open for Applications

Do you know someone looking to develop additional expertise in diagnostic safety and quality? The SIDM Fellowship in Diagnostic Excellence is now accepting applications until April 6, 2021. Learn more about our fellowship options to catalyze careers in the field of diagnostic medicine and cultivate leaders in the diagnostic safety movement.

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Call for Proposals Now Open

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.

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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

This Winter, COVID-19 Is Not Your
Only Health Concern

As you read this, COVID-19 may be spiking in your community for the second or third time. Perhaps your hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and have stopped elective surgeries. The news is filled with scary headlines. You have every reason to want to limit your exposure. COVID-19 may be scary but ten more months of avoiding your doctor may be worse.

Read the Dx IQ Column

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.

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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

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SIDM Leads New TeleDx Research Effort

Much has been written about the use of telemedicine, but it has been overwhelmingly focused on treatment and management of chronic disease, not on diagnosis. Learn more about SIDM’s new effort to capture and synthesize information about the early successes, the greatest challenges, and the most critical unanswered questions in the use of telediagnosis.

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sidm update

From the Field: Update from SIDM

At the end of 2020, the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) unveiled two new resources for the diagnostic quality and safety community and expanded the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis.

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Health care professionals

Four New Organizations Join National Coalition to Improve Diagnosis

Four leading healthcare organizations, AMGA (American Medical Group Association), END SEPSIS, Health Care Improvement Foundation (HCIF), and Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have committed to take action to improve diagnostic quality and safety by joining the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis.

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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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Journey to Zero Patient Harm

Coalition to Improve Diagnosis member Advocate Aurora Health has made patient safety and diagnostic quality focus of their work. Read more about their diagnostic improvement activities in our newest issue of ACT Update.

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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.

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