Should describe educational programs, evaluation of educational programs, learner assessments, or other aspects of improving diagnosis through health professions education. Studies formally addressing pedagogy, assessment, and development of expertise are also invited. While all submissions are welcomed, we especially encourage descriptions of programs that have robust assessment and evaluation methodology. Further, submissions should address challenges to generalizability of the work as well as integration into existing educational structures. Abstracts should be 400 words or less, have a descriptive title, and follow the outline below:

• Purpose/Problem
• Description of program, assessment, or study
• Outcomes
• Discussion
• Significance of findings

This may include one (1) table or figure. If a table or figure is included, the abstract narrative must be reduced to 350 words.

Submit Now - Education Abstracts ONLY

Should present cases or scenarios that highlight actual or potential diagnostic errors and have educational value for a wider audience. They should also include a brief discussion of the relevant scientific literature. Each vignette should be 300 words or less, have a descriptive title, and the following three (3) sections:

• Learning objectives
• Case information
• Discussion

May include one (1) table or figure. If a table or figure is included, the abstract narrative must be reduced to 250 words or less.

Submit Now - Clinical Vignette ONLY

Should describe programs, strategies, tools, or solutions to improve communication or information flow, and/or process performance for clinical providers and patients to reduce harm associated with diagnostic error in diverse delivery systems. Ideally, these should be solutions that can be quickly implemented in routine practice. Programs addressing diagnostic error in medicine that have been piloted or implemented are encouraged.

These abstracts should include information that allows session attendees to evaluate the replicability of such programs at their institutions.

This category is intended for descriptive abstracts as well as programs with more rigorous evaluations. Solutions may be related to but not limited to practice management, patient engagement, and/or use of health information technology. Each abstract should be 400 words or less, have a descriptive title, and the following four (4) sections:

• Statement of problem
• Description of the intervention or program
• Findings to date
• Lessons learned

May include one (1) table or figure. If a table or figure is included, the abstract narrative must be reduced to 350 words or less.

Submit Now - Practice Improvement Abstracts ONLY

New in 2022, patients and family members are invited to author and present posters during the academic poster sessions. The first step is submitting this short abstract; if the abstract is accepted, the author will create a poster to be presented at the 2022 conference in Minneapolis.

Patients and families have a unique perspective on diagnostic safety that is critical for others to hear; these patient and family posters are one way to bring that valuable lived experience to the diagnostic safety community.

To create an abstract, patients or family members should create a case study of their own experience with a diagnostic safety event, drawing out key learnings from the diagnostic breakdowns and identifying action items or ideas for improving diagnostic safety based on those breakdowns and what may have prevented them. Patients or family members are welcome to partner with a clinician, researcher, patient advocacy organization, or other trusted partner in their abstract submission (and later, poster creation) but it is not required.

The information for the abstract submission process is described below; if your abstract is accepted, members of the SIDM Patient Engagement team and Patient Engagement Committee will be available to provide any necessary technical support you need, and a poster template will be available for you to use.

The abstract should include a description of your or your family member’s diagnostic error (not an error related to other types of medical errors), with enough detail that session attendees can understand how the event unfolded, and what can be learned from the event. No identifying information should be included about the clinicians involved or locations or systems in which care was provided. The patient or family member’s name can be included if desired by the author, but it is also acceptable to choose a pseudonym or use the first name only. Each abstract should be 600 words or less but keep in mind the actual poster can include more detail.

Each abstract should consist of the following six (6) sections:

• Age, gender, and any other relevant demographic characteristics of the patient
• Background on the problem (i.e., how long had symptoms been going on, what were the health interactions up to this point)
• Course of care/treatment (i.e., were tests performed, were you given a diagnosis, what information did you have?)
• Ultimate diagnosis (i.e., what did the correct diagnosis turn out to be, and did any harm result from the error?)
• Reflections (i.e., anything that stood out to you during the experience or that you have learned since the event happened?)
• Opportunities (i.e., what can be learned from this case, what do you want practicing clinicians/hospitals/other stakeholders to take away from what happened to you, or have you personally become involved in any diagnostic safety work based on this event?)

*If you plan to cite any research or reference material, please include that information (with titles) in the abstract submission.

If your abstract is accepted, and you are invited to create a poster, it should include visual aids that help to tell your story. This can include images, graphics, or charts showing clinical test results, or other information. The SIDM Patient Engagement Team can provide guidance about what to include.

Examples of patient/family posters from last year’s pilot poster session are available here.

Submit Now - Patient/Family Posters ONLY