Giving doctors and patients enough time for better diagnoses
Time for Better Diagnosis: Measuring Outcomes, Stress and Time proposal (MOST)
This project looks at how visit length, clinician stress, and patient feedback affect getting the right diagnosis for people seeing primary care doctors.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11192914 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From your perspective, the team will use your clinic's electronic tools to screen symptoms before visits and ask for brief feedback afterward. They will compare care at clinics that schedule shorter (20-minute) versus longer (30-minute) primary care visits and study how time is used during the visit. Researchers will combine patient feedback with medical-record timestamps and measures of clinician stress to understand links between time, communication, and diagnostic outcomes. The project is led by clinicians and systems engineers with long experience in diagnostic safety to find practical ways clinics might change workflow.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are patients who have primary care visits for new or worsening symptoms at participating clinics and can complete brief EMR-based symptom screens and follow-up surveys.
Not a fit: Patients who do not use the participating primary care sites, cannot use the electronic tools, or need immediate emergency or specialty care are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead clinics to change visit scheduling and feedback systems so more patients get accurate, timely diagnoses.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research shows clinician time pressure and workload affect diagnostic quality and using patient feedback and EMR timestamps has been useful, but directly comparing different appointment lengths to diagnostic outcomes is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Schiff, Gordon David — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Schiff, Gordon David
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.