Diagnostic Errors in (Anatomic) Pathology

The aim of this presentation is to familiarize listeners with the relatively recently (9/2015) released IOM (Institute of Medicine) report on diagnostic errors and the importance of cognitive errors.

Lecture Presenter
Michael B. Cohen, MD
Michael B. Cohen, MD
Professor of Pathology, Vice-Chair for Education, University of Utah School of Medicine
Medical Director, Anatomic Pathology and Oncology Division, ARUP Laboratories

Dr. Cohen is a professor and vice chair for faculty and house staff development at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He received his MD from Albany Medical College in Albany, NY and completed his anatomic pathology residency at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Cohen has served on the editorial board of, among others, Advances in Anatomic Pathology, Cancer Cytopathology, Diagnostic Cytopathology, and the Journal of Urology, and currently serves on the American Journal of Clinical Pathology and Clinical Cancer Research boards. He has been the recipient of multiple honors, including the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence at the University of Iowa and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. Dr. Cohen has been included in Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors since 2007 and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer since 2005; Consumers’ Research Council of America Guide to America’s Top Pathologists since 2007; and Best Doctors in America list since 2005.

Objectives

After this presentation, participants will be able to:

Highlight key findings of the IOM report of improving diagnostic errors
Recognize that pathologist are key members of the diagnostic team and are integral in communicating results to the patient
Convey some of the possible impacts of the report on pathologists and the laboratory, including being part of a working system and the importance of process improvements
Understand that pathologists need to actively involve themselves in improving diagnostic accuracy by their involvement in reducing cognitive errors