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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

Patricia McGaffigan, MS, RN, CPPS; Cindy Manaoat Van, MHSA, CPPS; Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD |

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.

Kathleen Sanford DBA, RN, FAAN, FACHE; Sue Schuelke PhD, RN-BC, CNE, CCRN-K; Merton Lee, PharmD, PhD; Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD |

Editor’s note: 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... Read More

Kathleen Sanford DBA, RN, FAAN, FACHE; Sue Schuelke PhD, RN-BC, CNE, CCRN-K; Merton Lee, PharmD, PhD; Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD |

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... Read More

Regina M. Hoffman, MBA, RN, Cindy Manaoat Van, MHSA, CPPS, Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD |

This piece focuses on the importance of building the capacity of the workforce and organizations for patient safety using patient safety education.

All Perspectives (8)

Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 Results

This piece discusses patient safety challenges that arose as a result of the unique care circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly at the height of the pandemic in 2020. 

Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) are organizations dedicated to improving patient safety and healthcare quality that serve to collect and analyze data voluntarily reported by healthcare providers to promote learning. Federal confidentiality and privilege protections apply to certain information (defined as “patient safety work product”) developed when a healthcare provider works with a federally listed PSO under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 and its implementing regulation. AHRQ is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the PSO listing process. Based on their presentations at an AHRQ annual meeting, we spoke with representatives from two PSOs, Poonam Sharma, MD, MPH, the Senior Clinical Data Analyst at Atrium Health, and Rhonda Dickman, MSN, RN, CPHQ, the Director of the Tennessee Hospital Association PSO about how the unique circumstances surrounding care during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted patient safety risks in both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.

Susan S. Huang, MD, MPH |
This piece describes the history around efforts to address preventable health care–associated infections, including federal initiatives and further research avenues to consider.
Dr. Holmes is Director of Infection Prevention and Control and a professor at Imperial College London. We spoke with her about infection prevention and patient safety.
Eduard E. Vasilevskis, MD; E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH; Robert S. Dittus, MD, MPH |
This piece details a number of evidenced-based practices to help detect, prevent, and treat delirium, which is now seen as a patient safety hazard.
A leading expert in geriatrics research and innovation, Dr. Inouye developed and validated a widely used tool, the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM), to identify delirium.
C. Jessica Dine, MD, MA; and Jennifer S. Myers, MD |
This piece discusses how increased supervision influences the educational experience for trainees.
The founding Dean of Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Dr. Smith has held numerous senior leadership positions within the field of medical education and residency training.
Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common hospital-acquired infection, accounting for 40% of all hospital-acquired infections. More than 80% of these infections are attributable to use of an indwelling urethral catheter.(1) Catheter-acquired urinary infections (cUTIs) have received significantly less attention than other health care–acquired infections, such as surgical site infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and bacteremia.
Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Saint's research has focused on reducing health care–associated infections, with a particular focus on preventing catheter-related urinary tract infections (UTIs). We asked him to speak with us about how research on UTI prevention provides broader lessons for patient safety.
The voices of patients are often missing from discussions of the impact of medical errors and adverse events. Ms. Constance Lehfeldt is a former nurse who developed a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, which ultimately led to a devastating series of complications. Connie bravely describes her story, with understated eloquence, in the video interview. The voices of patients are often missing from discussions of the impact of medical errors and adverse events. Ms. Constance Lehfeldt is a former nurse who developed a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, which ultimately led to a devastating series of complications.
Gary A. Noskin, MD |
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has received a great deal of media attention over the past few months following the release of a study indicating that, on an annual basis, approximately 94,000 patients develop serious MRSA infections resulting in 18,650 deaths. Email to a colleague Digg This Printable View Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Perspective by Gary A. Noskin, MD Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has received a great deal of media attention over the past few months following the release of a study indicating that, on an annual basis, approximately 94,000 patients develop serious MRSA infections resulting in 18,650 deaths.(