Better hospital diagnoses through prevention and team-based care
Achieving Diagnostic Excellence through Prevention and Teamwork (ADEPT)
This project helps hospitals prevent and catch diagnostic mistakes so patients admitted to participating hospitals get more accurate and timely diagnoses.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11179285 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a patient perspective, researchers will use data from a 55-hospital collaborative to find when and why hospital diagnoses go wrong. They will study cases where the diagnostic process worked well to learn what practices and team behaviors help, and link those findings to existing hospital quality programs. The team will apply resilience theory and positive-deviance approaches to design system changes that support better diagnosis. Those changes will be tested and shared across participating hospitals to reduce future diagnostic errors.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Patients admitted to participating hospitals—particularly those with complex or unclear symptoms—are the most likely to be included or affected by this work.
Not a fit: Patients treated outside the participating hospital network or those with straightforward, well-defined diagnoses may not see direct benefits from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could lower diagnostic errors and lead to faster, more accurate diagnoses during hospital stays.
How similar studies have performed: The team’s prior UPSIDE work has identified risk factors and methods for finding diagnostic errors, but using resilience and positive-deviance approaches to drive system-wide improvement is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
San Francisco, United States
- University of California, San Francisco — San Francisco, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Auerbach, Andrew D — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Auerbach, Andrew D
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.