Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality

The Diagnostic Excellence Summit was open to the public to discuss disparities and equity issues facing patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, to consider innovations in care models, research and clinical interventions, and to examine gaps in knowledge and best practices regarding addressing the impact of disparities on diagnosis.

• Keynote Speech: “National Perspectives in Health Care Disparities” by Jeffrey Brady, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety,
• The first segment of the summit, led by Brady, featured a panel of experts discussing a national perspective on health care disparities and the pandemic’s impact on access and equity concerns.
• The second segment, Understanding the Intersection of Disparities and Diagnostic Excellence, featured talks from leaders evaluating access and equity issues impacting our communities. The session explored key concepts in disparities research as well as innovations in telehealth deployment and education to consider and address challenges in clinical care in this new environment.
• The third and final segment of the conference, led by practicing clinicians in primary care, women’s health and emergency medicine, focused on real world clinical experiences as well as innovative approaches in community engagement and in modeling, methods and technology. Faculty presented specific clinical adaptations to improve care quality, access and equity during the pandemic and to facilitate conversation to learn from other organizations and clinicians across the country.

This three-hour virtual summit focused on diagnosing SARS-CoV-2, COVID disease and non-COVID diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Panel discussions led by Yukari Manabe, professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine, focused on current and future diagnostics for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
• A presentation by Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement, featured a panel of clinical, public health and public policy experts discussing an overall strategy to address both COVID and non-COVID disease diagnosis across different levels of the public health response.
• Presentations by the leaders of the Center for Diagnostic Excellence included Susan Peterson, assistant professor of emergency medicine, and Kathryn McDonald, a patient safety expert and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Health Systems, Quality and Safety.
• Networking with patient safety and quality champions across our health system.

• Presentations by faculty and staff members throughout Johns Hopkins Medicine.

• Educational courses:

  • Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound in the Diagnosis and Stratification of Patients with COVID-19

  • Telehealth Diagnostic Triage of Patients in the Era of COVID

  • Being a Patient in the Midst of a Pandemic: Experiences Seeking COVID and non-COVID Care

  • Preparing for the “Second Wave” of COVID Diagnosis

  • Clinical Data Repurposed for Diagnosing and Tracking the Outbreak

  • View the full program agenda.