Skip to main content

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

All Perspectives (179)

Published Date
PSNet Publication Date
Additional Filters
Displaying 81 - 100 of 179 Results
Urmimala Sarkar, MD, and Kaveh Shojania, MD |
Opioids are known to be high risk medications, and concerns about patient harm from prescription opioid misuse have been increasing in the United States. This Annual Perspective summarizes research published in 2016 that explored the extent of harm from their use, described problematic prescribing practices that likely contribute to adverse events, and demonstrated some promising practices to foster safer opioid use.
This piece discusses momentum in the field of diagnostic error over the past several years (culminating in the recent Improving Diagnosis in Health Care report) and outlines future avenues to ensure progress in diagnostic safety.
Dr. Graber founded the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine and the journal, Diagnosis. We spoke with him about the recent National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine) Improving Diagnosis in Health Care report, and about diagnostic errors more generally.
A. Zach Hettinger, MD, MS; Raj Ratwani, PhD; Rollin J. (Terry) Fairbanks, MD, MS |
This piece provides an overview of health IT usability design, including persisting challenges and progress in the field.
Dr. Wachter is Professor and the Interim Chairman of the Department of Medicine at UCSF. We talked with him about his new book, The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age.
This piece discusses risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates as a measure of hospital safety, including why they've become popular, major flaws such as low sensitivity, and alternative ways to use them.
Sir Brian Jarman designed the methodology for hospital standardized mortality ratios, a widely used method of measuring quality and safety, and was involved with the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry. We spoke with him about the development of the HSMR and their role in monitoring performance.
Urmimala Sarkar, MD, and Kaveh Shojania, MD |
Computerized provider order entry is a cornerstone of patient safety efforts, and the increasingly widespread implementation of electronic health records has made it a standard practice in health care. This Annual Perspective summarizes novel findings and research directions in computerized provider order entry in 2015.
Clinician burnout is prevalent across health care settings and may impair clinicians' ability to maintain safe practices and detect emerging safety threats. This Annual Perspective summarizes studies published in 2015, with a particular focus on the relationship between burnout and patient safety, and interventions to address burnout among clinicians.
Christopher Moriates, MD, and Robert M. Wachter, MD |
While the patient safety world has largely embraced the concept of a just culture for many years, in 2015 the discussion moved toward tackling some of the specifics and many gray areas that must be addressed to realize this ideal. This Annual Perspective reviews the context of the "no blame" movement and the recent shift toward a framework of a just culture, which incorporates appropriate accountability in health care.
This book excerpt describes how integrating innovation and Lean concepts at Virginia Mason enhances clinical performance and the patient experience.
Mr. Graban is an internationally recognized expert in Lean Healthcare. We spoke with him about applying Lean in hospitals to improve safety and decrease waste.
Shams B. Syed, MD, MPH |
This piece describes the evolution of the World Health Organization's African Partnerships for Patient Safety program and its implications for global patient safety improvement.
Dr. Kelley, PhD, is Director of Service Delivery and Safety for the World Health Organization (WHO). We spoke with him about his work with WHO and the global impact of the organization on patient safety.
Christopher Moriates, MD |
This piece describes the emergence of medical care overuse as a patient safety issue and relates efforts to change clinician behaviors to prevent overtreatment.
Ms. Gibson is Senior Advisor to The Hastings Center, an editor for JAMA Internal Medicine, and co-author of Wall of Silence and The Treatment Trap. We spoke with her about overuse of medical care and its effect on patient safety.
Margaret Plews-Ogan, MD, MS |
This piece describes the new landscape of patient safety in outpatient care, including elements adapted from hospital settings and the growing evidence base for ambulatory-specific efforts.
Dr. Sarkar is an associate professor of medicine at UCSF whose research has focused on ambulatory patient safety, including missed and delayed diagnosis, adverse drug events, and monitoring failures for outpatients with chronic diseases. We spoke with her about patient safety in the ambulatory setting.
This piece describes the evolution of the patient advocacy movement, including the events that spurred it, resulting reforms, and the impact of online access to medical information.
Dave deBronkart, known as e-Patient Dave, is a co-founder and co-chair of the Society for Participatory Medicine and coauthor of Let Patients Help: A Patient Engagement Handbook. We spoke with him about engaging patients in their care and allowing patients to access their medical records.
Alexandre R. Marra, MD and Michael B. Edmond, MD, MPH, MPA |
This piece describes barriers to hand hygiene compliance in health care along with strategies to enhance and measure it.
Dr. Pittet is Director of the Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety at the University of Geneva Hospitals, Switzerland. We spoke with him about hand hygiene in health care, including how to implement culture change and improve safety.
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.
This piece describes the research around the effect of interruptions and distractions on health care safety and advocates for promoting and teaching mindfulness to address risks.
Dr. Coiera, a professor at the University of New South Wales, has extensively researched and written about clinical communication processes and information systems. We spoke with him about how interruptions and distractions in the clinical environment influence patient safety.
Dr. Kronick has served as director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality since August 2013, and will be stepping down from the role this month. We spoke with him about AHRQ's efforts to develop measurements and implement improvements in patient safety.
Urmimala Sarkar, MD; Kaveh Shojania, MD |
Dr. Singh has conducted extensive multidisciplinary research supported by the VA, AHRQ, and NIH and is now a nationally recognized expert in electronic health record–related patient safety issues and diagnostic errors. We spoke with him about becoming a patient safety researcher.