According to The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, diagnostic errors affect an estimated 12 million Americans each year, and likely cause more harm to patients than all other medical errors combined. On March 8th 2021, Mark Graber MD presented Engaging Patients to Improve Diagnosis at the Pulse People for Patient Safety meeting. This program described the history of medical diagnosis and how errors may happen. Dr. Graber is the Chief Medical Officer and founder of The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine and has done research about diagnostic errors. The first half of the session is a video of Dr. Graber’s presentation, providing an understanding of how doctors think and come to their diagnoses. The second half will cover the ways an advocate can help prepare clients to visit their medical teams, for the best chance of a proper diagnosis.

Mark L. Graber, MD, FACP is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Stony Brook University, NY and the Founder and President Emeritus of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.

Dr Graber is a national leader in the field of patient safety who helped Ilene Corina originate Patient Safety Awareness Week in 2002, an event now recognized internationally. In 2014 he received the John M Eisenberg Award, the nation’s top honor in patient safety and quality.

He is a pioneer in efforts to address diagnostic errors in medicine.  In 2008 he originated the Diagnostic Error in Medicine conference series, in 2011 he founded the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (www.improvediagnosis.org), and in 2014 he launched a new journal, DIAGNOSIS, devoted to improving the quality and safety of diagnosis, and reducing diagnostic error.