The 2nd Australasian ‘Diagnostic Error in Medicine’ Conference
AIHI Diagnostic Informatics research to feature prominently at the 2nd Australasian ‘Diagnostic Error in Medicine’ Conference
With current evidence suggesting that most people will experience at least one meaningful diagnostic error in their lifetime, the 2nd Australasian Diagnostic Error in Medicine Conference will bring together researchers and clinicians from all disciplines to examine ways to improve communication in the diagnostic process to be safer and more reliable for patients. The conference will tackle questions ranging from ways health IT can better support the diagnostic process, to improving communication among clinicians across the silos in healthcare, to ways patients can better engage in the diagnostic process.
This year, the conference will feature several team members from the Diagnostic Informatics stream of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, including two keynote presentations, an interactive symposium and oral presentations of the latest research.
Professor Andrea Rita Horvath, a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation and Conjoint Professor and Clinical Director of Department of Clinical Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, will present a keynote address on “Critical risk result management in medical laboratories – national and international perspectives”.
With a background in linguistics, the conference will also feature a keynote presentation from Research Fellow Dr Mary Dahm entitled “Tales of give and take - communication and the diagnostic odyssey”, illuminating how small adjustments in the use of language can become powerful tools for safer diagnosis.
As diagnostic errors often occur due to poor exchange of information and ambiguity about the transfer of different types of information into the final diagnosis, Professor Andrew Georgiou, who leads the Diagnostic Informatics stream at the Centre, will present an interactive symposium on “Conquering the Tower of Babel: improving diagnostic information flow”, alongside Paul Epner, CEO of the Society for the Improvement of Diagnosis in Medicine in the United States, and Professor Michael Legg from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Rae-Anne Hardie will also present on the “Development of systematic reviews to provide evidence for alert thresholds for critical laboratory results”, a collaboration between Macquarie University, the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists and the Royal College of Pathologist of Australasia, and Ms Melissa Miao will present findings of a qualitative study of the patient-clinician encounter, “Communicating diagnostic test information: managing uncertainty, risk and potential diagnostic error in Australian Emergency Departments”.
The conference will be held in Melbourne on the 28th-30th April 2019.