In the News

A nationally renowned leader in patient safety, Susan E. Sheridan, MIM, MBA, DHL will join the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) on January 22, as the organization’s first-ever Director of Patient Engagement. In this newly created position, Sheridan will spearhead efforts to ensure that the patient and family perspective informs all facets of SIDM’s work to improve diagnostic accuracy and timeliness while reducing harm caused by diagnostic errors.

While much attention has been given broadly to the concept of teamwork in medicine, the concept of a diagnostic team is novel. Two new articles and an editorial in the latest issue of Diagnosis address the importance of involving nurses in the diagnostic process as critical members of the healthcare team.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) announced new board leadership at the 10th Annual Diagnostic Error in Medicine (DEM) Conference this week in Boston, Massachusetts. David Newman-Toker, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Director of the Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence at Johns Hopkins Medicine, has been elected President-Elect of SIDM, effective immediately.

Today, at its annual Diagnostic Error in Medicine conference, the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) announced two new resources to support physicians in developing the knowledge and competencies needed to improve their diagnostic skills.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) has received a Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The 18-month project, Patients Improving Research in Diagnosis, will develop and evaluate an innovative curriculum to train Patient Partners to participate in the design, execution and dissemination of research to improve diagnosis.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), which recently merged with the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), have received a $725,100 grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to better understand how delayed or wrong diagnoses happen, and to test strategies to reduce them.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) has received a three-year grant for $477,400 from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation to develop and pilot test an interprofessional, competency-based, consensus curriculum that supports the goal of improving patient safety by reducing diagnostic error.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) a one-year, exploratory grant to study whether education and training on cognitive errors could improve decision-making on future space missions.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) is proud to introduce our three 2016 Fellows in Diagnostic Safety: Janice Kwan, MD, MPH; Benji Mathews, MD; and Ava Liberman, MD, MA.