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Perspectives
Our Perspectives on Safety section features expert viewpoints on current themes in patient safety, including interviews and written essays published monthly. Annual Perspectives highlight vital and emerging patient safety topics.
Latest Perspectives
This piece provides an overview of the philosophy of harm reduction, as well as specific strategies for how it can improve safety for people who use substances.
Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine... Read More
Eric Thomas, MD, MPH, is the Director of the University of Texas Houston Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality and Safety and is Associate Dean for Healthcare... Read More
Carole Stockmeier, MHA, BS, is the Senior Vice President of Safety and Reliability Solutions at Press Ganey, with over 20 years of experience in safety science... Read More
Dr. Chalapathy Venkatesan is the Chief Quality and Safety Officer, and Kathy Helak is the Assistant Vice President for Patient Safety at Inova Health System. We spoke to them about Safety-II... Read More
All Perspectives (206)
Back to all filtersThis piece provides an overview of the philosophy of harm reduction, as well as specific strategies for how it can improve safety for people who use substances.
Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and Medical Director of the Compass Program, a low-barrier walk-in clinic for substance-related health concerns.
Carole Stockmeier, MHA, BS, is the Senior Vice President of Safety and Reliability Solutions at Press Ganey, with over 20 years of experience in safety science and high reliability organizations. We spoke to her about zero harm and patient safety.
Eric Thomas, MD, MPH, is the Director of the University of Texas Houston Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality and Safety and is Associate Dean for Healthcare Quality. We spoke to him about zero harm and patient safety.
This piece provides an overview of Safety-II principles and discusses ways healthcare systems are integrating Safety-II principles into safety programs and care delivery.
Dr. Chalapathy Venkatesan is the Chief Quality and Safety Officer, and Kathy Helak is the Assistant Vice President for Patient Safety at Inova Health System. We spoke to them about Safety-II principles and their application at Inova.
This piece explores the health plan’s role in improving patient safety, including how health plans are monitoring patient safety and health plan-level initiatives to improve patient safety.
Amy Helwig, MD, MS, FAAFP, is the Chief Quality Officer at Commonwealth Care Alliance. We spoke to her about the health plan’s role in monitoring and improving patient safety.
This piece focuses on changes in the nursing workforce over recent years, including nursing shortages. Patient safety challenges may arise from these workforce challenges, but those challenges can also be mitigated.
Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, CCT, is the Director of Nursing Programs at the American Nurses Association and Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. We spoke to her about patient safety amid nursing workforce challenges.
Certain groups of people disproportionately experience avoidable harm in our healthcare system. Over the course of 2023, research posted to AHRQ PSNet has focused on the issue of equity in patient safety. This Year in Review Perspective discusses this body of research, through findings on clinician bias, technological tools, current initiatives directed at improving health equity, and in clinical areas such as obstetrics.
Throughout 2023, the importance of communication during transitions of care was a recurrent theme among articles on AHRQ PSNet. This Year in Review Perspective for 2023 discusses strategies for effective communication during transitions of care, spanning interactions among healthcare professionals, across organizations, and with patients, families, and caregivers.
Throughout 2023, the importance patient safety culture and workforce safety culture were recurrent themes among articles on AHRQ PSNet. This Year in Review Perspective for 2023 discusses concepts of psychological safety and employee voice, individual and team factors, and leadership and organizational factors related to safety culture.
This piece discusses the threat that cybersecurity attacks pose to patient safety, as well as ways to prepare and respond to attacks.
John Riggi is the national advisor for cybersecurity and risk at the American Hospital Association. Barbara Pelletreau is a former senior vice president of patient safety for a large healthcare organization. We spoke to them about the risks of cybersecurity to patient safety and how organizations can prepare and respond to cyberattacks.
This piece discusses the current and potential impacts of artificial intelligence on patient safety, as well as challenges to successful implementation.
Patrick Tighe, MD, MS, is a practicing anesthesiologist at University of Florida Health (UF Health) and the executive director of UF Health’s Quality and Patient Safety Initiative. We spoke to him about the current and potential impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on patient safety as well as challenges to successful implementation.
This piece discusses the impact of AHRQ’s TeamSTEPPS training curriculum on patient safety and highlights updates made to the curriculum in 2023 with the launch of TeamSTEPPS 3.0.
Monika Haugstetter, MHA, MSN, RN, CPHQ, is a Health Science Administrator with AHRQ, leading AHRQ’s TeamSTEPPS® initiative. Stephen Hines, PhD, is a Senior Research Scientist at the Arbor Research Collaborative for Health. While at Abt Associates, he co-led the TeamSTEPPS 3.0 revisions in collaboration with AHRQ. We spoke with Monika and Stephen about the newly released TeamSTEPPS 3.0 curriculum.
This perspective discusses patient safety in office-based care settings, where most patients get their healthcare. We discuss patient safety events that arise in routine office-based settings and those more particular to procedures performed in office-based ambulatory surgery centers. Communication strategies can mitigate safety risks and can be applied in many healthcare settings.
Richard Ricciardi is the associate dean for clinical practice and community engagement and the executive director of the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at the George Washington University. He has served as the director of the Division of Practice Improvement and senior advisor for nursing at AHRQ, and he maintains a part-time clinical practice at Mercy Health Clinic. We spoke to him on patient safety in office-based settings.
This perspective discusses the impact of climate change on human health and healthcare delivery, and how the healthcare system has contributed to pollution and climate change. Initiatives to decrease waste and emissions from healthcare can reduce the harm that healthcare pollution inflicts on population health while achieving safer, more resilient care.
Jodi Sherman is an associate professor of anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine and is the director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability. She also serves as the medical director for the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Sustainable Healthcare. We spoke to her on patient safety and sustainable healthcare.
This piece discusses how undergraduate professional nursing education integrates the topic of patient safety into classroom and clinical instruction, and how this affects patient safety as a whole.
Joan Stanley is the chief academic officer at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). We spoke to her about how undergraduate professional nursing education integrates the topic of patient safety into classroom and clinical instruction, and how this affects patient safety as a whole.
This piece focuses on workplace violence trends in healthcare settings and strategies for creating a safer healthcare environment.
Cheryl B. Jones is a professor, director of the Hillman Scholars Program, and interim associate dean of the School of Nursing’s PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We spoke to her about workplace violence trends in healthcare settings and how we can create a safer work environment for healthcare staff.
This piece focuses on the importance of patient safety following the end of the public health emergency and how organizations can move beyond the pandemic.
Patricia McGaffigan is the Vice President for Safety Programs at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and President of the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety. We spoke to Patricia about patient safety trends and how patient safety will move beyond the pandemic.
This piece discusses virtual nursing, an approach to care that incorporates an advanced practice nurse into hospital-based patient care through telehealth. Virtual nursing increases patient safety and may enable expert nurses to continue to meet patient needs in future staffing shortages.
Kathleen Sanford is the chief nursing officer and an executive vice president at CommonSpirit. Sue Schuelke is an assistant professor at the College of Nursing–Lincoln Division, University of Nebraska Medical Center. They have pioneered and tested a new model of nursing care that utilizes technology to add experienced expert nurses to care teams, called Virtual Nursing.
This piece focuses on the importance of building the capacity of the workforce and organizations for patient safety using patient safety education.
Regina Hoffman is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. We spoke to her about her experience in collaborative learning, sharing information across healthcare facilities, and patient safety education.
This piece discusses how family presence and participation in healthcare at all levels can improve patient safety as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic affected partnership with patients and families, ultimately highlighting the critical importance of family presence and participation.
Beverley H. Johnson is the president and CEO of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC). We spoke to her about her experience in patient and family engagement and improving patient safety, including how to continue to partner with families during pandemics and through technology.
Throughout 2022, AHRQ PSNet has shared research that elucidates the complex nature of misdiagnosis and diagnostic safety. This Year in Review explores recent work in diagnostic safety and ways that greater safety may be promoted using tools developed to improve diagnostic practices.
