Plenary Session: Perplexing Puzzles, Murky Mysteries, Noisy Signals - Communicating Diagnostic Uncertainty

Tuesday, July 4
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This session has the following learning objectives:  

  1. Discuss challenges that arise when clinicians need to communicate diagnostic uncertainty to patients or other healthcare professionals  
  2. Critically analyze and discuss the reasons why clinicians may be hesitant to communicate uncertainty  
  3. Describe and critique the effectiveness of diverse communication strategies used to communicate diagnostic uncertainty in clinical settings
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    Maria Dahm

    Mary Dahm, PhD, MA

    ARC DECRA Fellow
    Senior Research Fellow
    Institute for Communication in Health Care
    Australian National University
    Canberra, Australia

    Dr. Maria R. Dahm is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Communication in Health Care (ICH) at the Australian National University. She is a leader in the field of in diagnostic communication with a particular focus on diagnostic uncertainty. Dr Dahm holds a prestigious 2022 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellowship from the Australian Research Council where her 3-year project addresses how communication can to improve diagnosis, and patient safety. Her research focuses on investigating the impact of health communication on diagnostic excellence and quality and safety of care, and improving consumer engagement in health communication research.