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The PSNet Collection: All Content

The AHRQ PSNet Collection comprises an extensive selection of resources relevant to the patient safety community. These resources come in a variety of formats, including literature, research, tools, and Web sites. Resources are identified using the National Library of Medicine’s Medline database, various news and content aggregators, and the expertise of the AHRQ PSNet editorial and technical teams.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 18383 Results
Patient Safety Innovation May 31, 2023

Seeking a sustainable process to enhance their hospitals’ response to sepsis, a multidisciplinary team at WellSpan Health oversaw the development and implementation of a system that uses customized electronic health record (EHR) alert settings and a team of remote nurses to help frontline staff identify and respond to patients showing signs of sepsis. When the remote nurses, or Central Alerts Team (CAT), receive an alert, they assess the patient’s information and collaborate with the clinical care team to recommend a response.

Patient Safety Primer May 31, 2023

Anyone can find it challenging to understand medical terms, and millions of Americans have trouble understanding and acting upon health information. Health literate organizations make health systems easier to navigate and health information easier to understand, improving healthcare delivery and outcomes.

Patient Safety Innovation May 31, 2023

Patient falls in hospitals are common and debilitating adverse events that persist despite decades of effort to minimize them. Improving communication across the assessing nurse, care team, patient, and patient’s most involved friends and family may strengthen fall prevention efforts. A team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, sought to develop a standardized fall prevention program that centered around improved communication and patient and family engagement.

Manadan A, Arora S, Whittier M, et al. Am J Med Open. 2023;9:100028.
The ”weekend effect” refers to worse outcomes among patients admitted on the weekend versus weekday. Based on a sample of over 121 million adult hospital discharges from 2016 to 2019, researchers examined the association between several different variables and in-hospital death. Multivariable analyses identified several predictors of in-hospital death (e.g., older age, higher number of comorbidities, etc.) and the researchers found that patients admitted on weekends underwent fewer procedures and had higher mortality rates compared to patients admitted on weekdays. The authors suggest that improved staffing and availability of procedures may improve mortality.
Boudreaux ED, Larkin C, Vallejo Sefair A, et al. JAMA Psych. 2023;Epub May 17.
Patients who present to the emergency department (ED) with suicidal ideation can benefit from ED-initiated interventions, but interventions can be difficult to implement and maintain. This research builds on a 2013 study, describing the quality improvement (QI) methods used to implement the Emergency Department Safety Assessment and Follow-up Evaluation 2 (ED-SAFE 2) trial. The QI approach was successful in reducing death by suicide and suicide-related acute care during the study period.
Ross P, Hodgson CL, Ilic D, et al. Contemp Nurse. 2023;Epub May 8.
Improved nurse staffing ratios and nursing skill mix have been linked to improved safety outcomes. This retrospective cohort study of over 13,000 patients admitted to a tertiary intensive care unit (ICU) in Australia between 2016 and 2020 found that a great concentration of critical care registered nurses (CCRNs) was associated with a lower risk of adverse events.

Surana K. Pro Publica. May 19, 2023.

The unintended clinical consequences of abortion restrictions are beginning to emerge. This article shares how one woman faced personal health risks due to clinician concerns stemming from barriers to abortion care and how the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) may be employed to minimize care limitations in emergent pregnancy-related situations.
Barnett ML, Meara E, Lewinson T, et al. New Engl J Med. 2023;388:1779-1789.
Best practices for treating patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) include prescribing medications to treat OUD (naltrexone, naloxone, or buprenorphine) and limiting prescriptions of high-risk medications (opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines). This study of more than 23,000 patients with an index event related to OUD sought to determine racial and ethnic differences in safe prescribing. White patients were significantly more likely to receive buprenorphine and less likely to receive high-risk medications than Black or Hispanic patients in the 180 days after the index event. This difference persisted over the four-year study period.
Cox GR, Starr LM. J Healthc Manag. 2023;68:151-157.
Becoming a high-reliability organization (HRO) to improve patient safety is a goal of the Veterans Heath Administration (VHA). This commentary describes the VHA's implementation strategy and progress since 2019 at the patient, employee, and organizational levels. The three pillars of the VHA's HRO strategy are leadership commitment, a culture of safety, and continuous process improvement. Challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic are also discussed.
Staal J, Zegers R, Caljouw-Vos J, et al. Diagnosis (Berl). 2022;10:121-129.
Checklists are increasingly used to support clinical and diagnostic reasoning processes. This study examined the impact of a checklist on electrocardiogram interpretation in 42 first-year general practice residents. Findings indicate that the checklist reduced the time to diagnosis but did not affect accuracy or confidence.
Gefter WB, Hatabu H. Chest. 2023;163:634-649.
Cognitive bias, fatigue, and shift work can increase diagnostic errors in radiology. This commentary recommends strategies to reduce these errors in diagnostic chest radiography, including checklists and improved technology (e.g., software, artificial intelligence). In addition, the authors offer practical step-by-step recommendations and a sample checklist to assist radiologists in avoiding diagnostic errors.

ISMP Patient Safety Alert! Acute care edition. May 18, 2023;28(10);1-3.

Dose error-reduction systems (DERS) and drug libraries are tools for use with smart infusion pumps to ensure safe intravenous medication administration. This article discusses infusion problems unrelated to user error that went undetected by the technology and reached patients. Recommendations to minimize similar occurrences include removing the involved device from service and investigating the incident.
Pati AB, Mishra TS, Chappity P, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2023;Epub Apr 22.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist is widely used, but implementation challenges remain. This article describes the development of an electronic version of the surgical safety checklist adapted for use on a personal device, and compared its use against the traditional paper-based checklist. The electronic checklist had 100% use (compared to 98% for the traditional checklist) and significantly higher frequency of completion (100% vs. 27%).
Dietl JE, Derksen C, Keller FM, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20:5698.
Miscommunication between healthcare providers can contribute to adverse events, but communication may be improved by strengthening psychological safety. This paper describes two studies on the association of communication, patient safety threats, and higher quality care and the mediating effect of psychological safety in obstetrical care. Results suggest psychological safety mediates the association of communication with quality of care and patient safety.
Yanni E, Calaman S, Wiener E, et al. J Healthc Qual. 2023;45:140-147.
I-PASS is a structured handoff tool that aims to improve communication and reduce adverse events during transitions of care. This article describes the implementation of a modified I-PASS tool for use in the emergency department (ED I-PASS) to improve transitions of care between pediatric emergency medicine physicians. Implementation of ED I-PASS decreased the perceived loss of key patient information during transitions of care (from 75% to 37.5%).
Karlic KJ, Valley TS, Cagino LM, et al. Am J Med Qual. 2023;38:117-121.
Because patients discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) are at increased risk of readmission and post-ICU adverse events, some hospitals have opened post-ICU clinics. This article describes safety threats identified by post-ICU clinic staff. Medication errors and inadequate medical follow-up made up nearly half of identified safety threats. More than two-thirds were preventable or ameliorable.

Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; April 2023.

Gaps in patient information processes can result in missed care opportunities that contribute to harm. This report examines language discordance in National Health Service written scheduling communications and its contribution to patients being lost to follow up. The primary improvement recommendation is to enhance the ability of providers to recognize primary languages of patients and provide written instructions accordingly.
Coghlan A, Turner S, Coverdale S. Intern Med J. 2023;53:550-558.
Use of abbreviations in electronic health records increases risk of misunderstandings, particularly between providers of different specialties. In this study, junior doctors and general practitioners were asked about their understanding of common, uncommon, and rare abbreviations used in hospital discharge notes. No abbreviation was interpreted in the same way by all respondents, and nearly all respondents left at least one abbreviation blank or responded that they didn't know.
Poiraud C, Réthoré L, Bourdon O, et al. Infect Dis Now. 2023;53:104641.
Vaccine errors can limit the effectiveness of immunization efforts. Based on survey data from 227 health professionals in France, this study identified several areas for improvement related to knowledge of vaccine-related errors, such as contraindications during pregnancy, vaccine storage, age-related vaccine schedules, and vaccine administration.