Professor Sanjay Saint, Chief of Medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the Director of the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center/University of Michigan Patient Safety Enhancement Program (PSEP)

This special lecture is organised by Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, RAND Professor of Health Services Research, University of Cambridge.

ALL WELCOME

Abstract

Professor Sanjay Saint, the George Dock Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, Chief of Medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and a Special Correspondent to the New England Journal of Medicine, will give a special lecture on clinical problem-solving. He will make the following key points during this lecture. First, he will argue that clinical problem-solving (or “medical decision-making”) is an essential function of the physician. Second, he will show that pattern recognition works well for some diagnoses but, unfortunately, studies have revealed that diagnostic error is common. Third, he will describe several different types of cognitive error – such as availability bias, anchoring heuristic, and premature closure – and discuss how they are important causes of diagnostic error. Fourth, he will outline some suggestions of how to become better problem-solvers. Finally, he will present clinical cases to the audience – which will include audience participation – that will exemplify several of the points discussed.

His teaching objectives are:

1) Discuss the different types of diagnostic errors

2) Review common heuristics and cognitive biases in clinical medicine

3) Present clinical cases to the audience (one from adult medicine and one from pediatrics) and discuss the clinical and cognitive aspects of the case.

About Professor Saint

Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH , is the Chief of Medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the George Dock Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan.

His research focuses on preventing healthcare-associated infection, implementation science, and medical decision-making. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers with 100 of those appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA , The Lancet or the Annals of Internal Medicine. He serves on the editorial board of 7 peer-reviewed journals including the Annals of Internal Medicine, is a Special Correspondent to the New England Journal of Medicine, and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Detroit News, and Detroit Free Press. He is also the lead author of a book published by Oxford University Press entitled: “Preventing Hospital Infections: Real-World Problems, Realistic Solutions.” He received the 2016 Mark Wolcott Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs as the National VA Physician of the Year, and presented a recent TEDx Talk on culture change in healthcare.

He received his Medical Doctorate from UCLA , completed a medical residency and chief residency at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and obtained a Masters in Public Health (as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar) from the University of Washington in Seattle. He has been a visiting professor at over 75 universities and hospitals in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and has active research studies underway with investigators in Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Australia, and Thailand.