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Best Practices Toolkit – General Medicine

The resource links below are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended as legal or medical advice. Links to outside training programs are suggestions of potential resources for training and should not be considered an endorsement of content or the company. Med-IQ bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of any external site. The concepts discussed during the webinar, as well as the list below, represent some suggestions for improving practice and are not intended to be all-inclusive.

Removing Barriers to Reducing Diagnostic Error

• The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. SAFER Guides. Updated November 28, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• World Health Organization. Diagnostic Errors: Technical Series on Safer Primary Care. Published 2016. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• World Health Organization. Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030: Towards Eliminating Avoidable Harm in Health Care. Published 2021. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Schiff G, Shojania KG. Looking back on the history of patient safety: an opportunity to reflect and ponder future challenges. BMJ Qual Saf. 2021. [Epub ahead of print].

Improving Diagnostic Accuracy

• Cifu AS. Diagnostic errors and diagnostic calibration. JAMA. 2017;318(10):905-906.
• Costa Filho GB, Moura AS, Brandão PR, Schmidt HG, Mamede S. Effects of deliberate reflection on diagnostic accuracy, confidence and diagnostic calibration in dermatology. Perspect Med Educ. 2019;8(4):230-236.
• Hanscom R, Small M, Lambrecht A. [White Paper] A Dose of Insight—Diagnostic Accuracy: Room for Improvement. Coverys. Published March 13, 2018. Accessed October 8, 2021.
• Health Research & Educational Trust. Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Change Package. Published September 2018. Accessed October 6, 2021.
• Meyer AND, Upadhyay DK, Collins CA, et al. A program to provide clinicians with feedback on their diagnostic performance in a learning health system. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2021;47(2):120-126.
• Meyer AND, Payne VL, Meeks DW, Rao R, Singh H. Physicians’ diagnostic accuracy, confidence, and resource requests: a vignette study. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(21):1952-1958.
• Committee on Diagnostic Error in Health Care; Board on Health Care Services; Institute of Medicine; The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In: Balogh E, Miller BT, Ball J, eds. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. The National Academies Press. 2015.
• Health and Medicine Division, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Achieving Excellence in Cancer Diagnosis: A Workshop. Published October 6, 2021. Accessed October 18, 2021.
• National Quality Forum. Improving Diagnostic Quality and Safety: Final Report. Published September 19, 2017. Accessed October 18, 2021.
• Olson APJ, Linzer M, Schiff GD. Measuring and improving diagnostic safety in primary care: addressing the “twin” pandemics of diagnostic error and clinician burnout. J Gen Intern Med. 2021;36(5):1404-1406.
• Singh H, Sittig DF. Advancing the science of measurement of diagnostic errors in healthcare: the Safer Dx framework. BMJ Qual Saf. 2015;24(2):103-110.
• Singh H, Khanna A, Spitzmueller C, Meyer AND. Recommendations for using the Revised Safer Dx Instrument to help measure and improve diagnostic safety. Diagnosis (Berl). 2019;6(4):315-323.
• Singh H, Upadhyay DK, Torretti D. Developing health care organizations that pursue learning and exploration of diagnostic excellence: an action plan. Acad Med. 2020;95(8):1172-1178.
• Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM). Resources for Clinical Teams. Accessed October 7, 2021.
  • Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. Clinical Reasoning Toolkit. Accessed October 7, 2021
  • Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. Diagnosis and Telemedicine: Identifying the Must-Know Research Questions for Safe and Effective Telediagnosis. Accessed October 7, 2021.
  • Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. Clinician Checklists. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• American College of Physicians. Getting It Right: Cases To Improve Diagnosis. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Diagnostic Safety Supplemental Items for Medical Office SOPS. Updated June 2021. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Operational Measurement of Diagnostic Safety: State of the Science. Updated September 2020. Accessed October 7, 2021.

Team-Based Care

• Schottenfeld L, Petersen D, Peikes D, et al. Creating Patient-Centered Team-Based Primary Care. AHRQ Pub. No. 16-0002-EF. Published March 2016. Accessed October 6, 2021.
• Fiscella K, McDaniel SH. The complexity, diversity, and science of primary care teams. Am Psychol. 2018;73(4):451-467.
• Tubbesing G, Chen FM. Insights from exemplar practices on achieving organizational structures in primary care. J Am Board Fam Med. 2015;28(2):190-194.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS). Accessed October 7, 2021.

Interprovider Communication

• Smith PD, Boyd C, Bellantomi J, et al. Communication between office-based primary care providers and nurses working within patients’ homes: an analysis of process data from CAPABLE. J Clin Nurs. 2016;25(3-4):454-462.
• Gleason K, Brake H, Agramonte V, Perfetti C. Medications at Transition and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Toolkit for Medication Reconciliation. AHRQ Pub No. 11(12)-0059. Updated August 2012. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Crucial Conversations. Accessed October 7, 2021.

Communication With Patients

• The Joint Commission. Speak Up Campaigns. Accessed October 6, 2021.
  • The Joint Commission. Speak Up About Your Care. Accessed October 6, 2021.
  • The Joint Commission. Speak Up for Your Rights. Accessed October 6, 2021.
  • The Joint Commission. Speak Up at the Doctor’s Office. Accessed October 6, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. Updated September 2020. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. AHRQ’s Making Informed Consent an Informed Choice: Training Modules for Health Care Leaders and Professionals. Updated September 2020. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) Toolkit. Updated October 2020. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Tracking and Improving Screening for Colorectal Cancer Intervention. Updated April 2018. Accessed October 7, 2021.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The SHARE Approach: A Model for Shared Decisionmaking – Fact Sheet. Updated September 2020. Accessed October 7, 2021.