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Prescribing potentially inappropriate medications (such as antihistamines, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants) can lead to adverse health outcomes. The Enhancing Quality of Prescribing Practices for Older Adults in the Emergency Department (EQUIPPED) program is a multicomponent intervention intended to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing among older adults who are discharged from the emergency department. Twelve months after implementation at three academic health systems, the EQUIPPED program significantly reduced overall potentially inappropriate prescribing at one site; the proportion of benzodiazepine prescriptions decreased across all sites.

Health care work environments can influence safety culture and teamwork. This study used multiyear survey data from registered nurses in 503 hospitals across four states to explore the association between nurse work environment and healthcare quality, patient safety, and patient outcomes. Findings indicate that nurse work environment (such as nurse participation in hospital affairs, nurse manager capability, leadership support, and nurse-physician relationships) is an important factor to improving the experiences of patients and nurses, especially those in hospitals caring for economically disadvantaged patients.

Reporting patient safety incidents is essential to improving patient safety. This study compared the number of self-reported (to the study team) safety incidents during interhospital transport and the number of incidents submitted to the hospital’s reporting system. Nearly half of all patient transports had at least one self-reported incident; however, only 1% of incidents were reported to the hospital’s electronic reporting system.

Critical incident reporting systems (CIRS) are used to improve learning and patient safety. The aim of this study was to support future implementation of CIRS in primary care by discussing types of incidents that should be reported; who can report incidents (e.g., nurses, physicians, patients); whether reporting is mandatory or voluntary or both depending on incident severity; local versus central analysis; barriers and methods to overcome them; and motivation for reporting.

Misdiagnosis of heart failure can lead to serious patient harm. This article reviews the cognitive psychology of diagnostic reasoning in cardiology. Strategies for educators, students, and researchers to reduce cardiovascular misdiagnosis are presented.

Many hospitals are implementing programs to support clinicians involved in adverse events (‘second victims’). Researchers interviewed 12 representatives of second victim programs in the United States about the experiences of their programs. The article discusses representative feedback regarding the importance of identifying a need for second victim programs and services, perceived challenges to program success, structural changes after program implementation, and insights for success.   

Communicating and reporting patient safety incidents relies on a robust safety culture wherein health care providers feel supported, not blamed, for errors. Using pediatric registered nurses’ responses from the 2016 and 2018 Hospital Survey on Patient Culture, researchers explored (1) associations between the communication of RNs within their teams and the frequency that they reported safety events; (2) associations between RNs’ communication within their health care teams and their perceptions of safety within the hospital unit; and (3) whether RNs’ communication had improved from 2016 to 2018.

Patient isolation for infection prevention and control may result in unintended consequences. This systematic review examined adverse physical and psychosocial events associated with patient isolation. A meta-analysis of seven observational studies showed no adverse events related to clinical care or patient experience with isolation.

Missed nursing care appears to be associated with higher rates of adverse events. More than 3,600 registered nurses (RNs) were surveyed about missed care during labor and birth in the United States. Three aspects of nursing care were reported missing by respondents: thorough review of prenatal records, missed timely documentation of maternal-fetal assessments, and failure to monitor input and output.

A key aspect of patient safety culture is the perception that all team members should speak up about safety concerns. In this study of 165 frontline and senior leader participants, deciding to report a safety event (referred to as a “voiceable concern”) is influenced by four factors: certainty that something is wrong and is an occasion for voice; system versus conduct concerns, forgivability, and normalization. Organizational culture and context effect whether an incident is considered a voiceable concern.

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults can result in medication-related harm. This systematic review of 63 studies found that potentially inappropriate prescribing was significantly associated with several system-related and health-related outcomes for older adults, including mortality, readmissions, adverse drug events, and functional decline.

Surgical safety checklists (SSC) have been adopted around the world, but reported compliance rates and use in practice vary widely. This study in one Canadian hospital showed the SSC was used in 82% of Briefings, 76% of Time-Outs, and 22% of Debriefings. Gaps between policy and practice were identified and implications for policy makers, administrators, frontline clinicians, and researchers are discussed.

Many medications and medical devices can result in preventable harm in pediatric patients. This article describes one hospital’s efforts to implement explicit, structured processes and huddles to increase situational awareness regarding high-risk therapies among the care team and family members. After implementation, the percentage of electronic health record (EHR) alerts correctly describing high-risk therapies increased from 11% to 96%.

Previous research has raised concerns about safety risks associated with overlapping surgery, defined as two procedures performed concurrently, but where critical surgical portions of each procedure occur at different times. Based on a meta-analysis of six articles, the authors of this systematic review found that rates of surgical complications readmissions were similar among overlapping and nonoverlapping surgery in patients undergoing total joint arthroscopy.