ABIM Foundation Announces New Grants to Improve Physician Training and Assessments Around Diagnostic Errors, Interpersonal Skills and Medical Professionalism

(Philadelphia, PA) The ABIM Foundation approved funding of four new projects led by researchers at the American Board of Internal Medicine, University of Toronto, University of Saskatchewan and the Northport VA Medical Center to advance medical professionalism in the areas of diagnostic errors, multi-source feedback and interprofessional teamwork.

The grants will allow researchers to better understand and assess physician pereceptions and behavior related to medical professionalism. The grants support the ABIM Foundation's goal to improve health care through the advancement of medical professionalism and embody the ideals of professionalism as defined in Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium: A Physician Charter.

The grants, totalling $90,000, were approved at a recent meeting of the ABIM Foundation Board of Trustees and support the following research initiatives:

Should Clinicians Trust Their Intuitive Diagnoses?
This project will examine the relationship between decision-making and diagnostic errors. The ultimate goal is to determine the conditions under which physicians are best off trusting their instincts, and the circumstances under which a more protracted decision-making process is appropriate in an effort to support the development of tools to reduce errors in diagnosis.

Convening Experts in Multi-Source Feedback
As certifying boards work to develop assessments around medical professionalism, multi-source feedback has the potential to improve physician assessment in key competencies such as interpersonal skills and communication, teamwork, stewardship and care coordination. This project will convene experts from the U.S. and internationally to better understand current approaches and tools, and explore areas for potential future development.

Physician Responses to Typical Professional Challenges
Research has shown that most physicians agree with professional standards articulated in the Physician Charter; however, their behavior does not always conform to these principles. This project will inform development of a self-directed assessment tool that examines where the gaps between belief and action are the largest – with an important focus on the physician's role in the management of limited health care resources.

Ethnographic Study of Hospitalists and Interprofessional Teamwork
Researchers will study teamwork practices of hospitalists in a variety of hospital settings. The team will report on how physicians and their collaborators work together and the impact of organizational contexts on interprofessional teamwork. The researchers will also analyze potential strategies the hospitalists could use to work more collaboratively and effectively.

The mission of the ABIM Foundation is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system. We achieve this by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policy makers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. To learn more about the ABIM Foundation, visit www.abimfoundation.org connect with us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.