Pre-conference Courses

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine is hosting the 2022 Patient Summit in conjunction with the SIDM2022 Conference. This year’s summit will echo and amplify the SIDM2022 conference theme: The Future of Diagnosis. The summit will explore how better-quality outcomes happen when patients are actively involved; as part of their own medical care team, or as partners in system- or organization-level research, policy, and advocacy.

Modelled after a “hackathon”, we will use a real-life example of diagnostic error around which the summit participants will engage in an interactive, learning and workshopping activity to identify ideas for solutions that could have prevented the diagnostic breakdown. Touching on multiple types of diagnostic breakdowns such as cognitive errors, system failures, educational and knowledge gaps, and problematic culture/team dynamics, the selected diagnosis case study explored during the summit will engender rich discussion and an array of potential innovative solutions.

The proposed solutions and the interactive, multi-stakeholder process used for developing the solutions, will be captured in a conference proceedings report for use by SIDM and our allies to shift policy, seek funding, and build awareness about the need for improved diagnostic quality.

The case that will serve as our catalyst for the solutions-generation workshop is an example of missed and delayed diagnosis of obstetrical and gynecological issues, a commonly occurring and complex body of diagnostic errors. While the goal for the day is to leverage the vast and varied expertise of the patients, clinicians, and others in the room and be as creative and innovative as possible, the breakout sessions will be organized according to broad “solution-type” categories to best facilitate teamwork. These three categories will be patient-facing solutions (such as education or communication tools), clinician-facing solutions (such as specific clinician training methods), and system-focused solutions (such as health information technology). Participants will be able to select which solution category they are most interested in or aligned with, and work with fellow diagnostic quality experts to collectively design a solution.

The future of effective health care involves a thoughtful collaboration between people and technology. This connection will be especially important for diagnosis. In this interactive course, we will discuss several ways that electronic decision support tools can be designed, used, and evaluated in clinical settings to improve education and practice of diagnostic decision-making. We will cover approaches to analyze/frame the diagnostic problems, understand the possible interventions available, and develop evaluation plans to assess the impact of these efforts.

Learning Objectives

• Characterize diagnostic decision-making tasks in clinical settings using a proposed framework;
• Match appropriate electronic tools to support diagnostic decision-making tasks;
• Develop metrics to assess a diagnostic decision support intervention.

 

Diagnostic error studies are often interdisciplinary, and a large variety of research methods are now being used. This course will discuss different methods to study diagnostic error as well as the strengths and limitations of the most commonly used research methods. It will also discuss useful strategies for getting published and how study findings can be used to create an impact on clinical practice. Throughout the course, tips and strategies for research-related professional development will be provided.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the main strengths and weaknesses of commonly used methods in diagnostic error research;
• Explore different aspects of research-related professional development (e.g. mentorship, getting published, grants);
• Describe ways to translate research into clinical practice. 

This 3.5 hour session targets ‘first timers’ at SIDM conferences and anyone interested in a general introduction to diagnostic quality and safety. Presented by three of the founding leaders in this field, the session will include:

• A case of diagnostic error – and a workshop on how to identify the root causes of error
• A short history of SIDM and the field
• An overview of diagnostic error; cognitive and system-related contributing factors
• An introduction to diagnostic excellence – what it is and how to achieve it
• An introduction to pitfalls in diagnosis, and ‘don’t miss’ conditions
• Take home points – things you could do tomorrow in your own practice setting
• Thoughts on the future of diagnosis, and
• Opportunities for you to be involved in determining the future of our field 

 
Learning Objectives

• A working understanding of the diagnostic error field, where it’s been, where it is now, and where its headed next;
• The ability to define diagnostic error, identify cases of error, and dissect out root causes;
• Ideas for how quality can be improved generally, and in one’s one practice. 

 

There has been an increasing recognition of the widespread nature of diagnostic error and its grave impact on patient safety. In a landmark report, the National Academy of Medicine highlighted an urgent need for better training in medical decision-making across all medical disciplines and at all training levels. Though teaching clinical reasoning is a core activity for all health professions education programs, studies have shown that this education is not as effective, intentional, or evidence based as it should be. One identified barrier to widespread clinical reasoning education is the lack of formally trained faculty to teach this content. Through this train-the-trainer faculty development mini-course, experts in clinical reasoning education and practice will train faculty from a diverse national and international cohort to become effective clinical reasoning educators with a focus on competencies as set forth by the Macy Consensus Curriculum. Through a mix of didactic and small group activities, participants will gain practical skills and tools to improve their own teaching in clinical reasoning and inspire curricula in their own institution.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the competencies for interprofessional education as set forth by the Macy Consensus Curriculum;
• Operationalize evidence-based tools and techniques for clinical reasoning education in their own teaching;
• Discuss the importance of the healthcare team in diagnostic decision making.