Feedback interventions (e.g., debriefing, peer-to-peer, audit, and feedback) can encourage learning from safety events and improve quality of care. This systematic review of 48 studies found that providing feedback to emergency medical services (EMS) personnel can improve documentation and adherence to protocols, with some studies also documenting improvements in clinical decision-making and cardiac arrest performance.

Primary care often initiates a diagnostic process that is vulnerable to miscommunication, uncertainty, and delay. This commentary examines how cancer diagnosis delay in primary care occurs. The authors suggest a systems approach targeting interconnected process elements including enhanced use of information technology to help with monitoring and care coordination to realize and sustain improvement.

Patient safety research on inpatient psychiatric care is expanding, but less is known about outpatient mental health patient safety. This review of safety in community-based mental health services revealed several challenges, including defining preventable safety events. Additionally, safety research has focused on harm caused by the patient instead of harm caused by mental health services, such as delays in access or diagnosis.

Digital health tools are increasingly used across all areas of the healthcare system. In this study, researchers convened an interdisciplinary expert panel to identify patient safety concerns associated with emerging digital health technologies and to outline recommendations to address these concerns.

The role of healthcare disparities in patient safety is an emerging priority. This article summarizes disparities in preventable harm and outlines solutions to reducing inequalities in patient safety at the individual-, leadership-, and system-levels, such as identifying clear chains of accountability for adverse events and improving incident measurement and analysis specific to marginalized patient groups.

… al. The role of feedback in emergency ambulance services: a qualitative interview study. BMC Health Serv Res. …

… for practical action are described. … Amalberti R, Staines A, Vincent C. Embracing multiple aims in healthcare improvement …

… barriers for SUD. … Chaudhry NT, Franklin BD, Mohammed S, Benn J. The secondary use of data to support medication safety in the hospital setting: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. Pharmacy …

… J Patient Saf Risk Manag … The July effect is a phenomenon that presumably results in poor care due to the … active, independent practice . The authors discuss how a systemic approach is required to situate these … to provide the safest care possible. … Wu AW, Vincent C, Shapiro DW, et al. Mitigating the July effect. J …

… effect. The authors propose viewing the weekend effect as a proxy for staffing levels and the influence of other … or other ancillary services. … Marang-van de Mheen PJ, Vincent C. Moving beyond the weekend effect: how can we best …

Engaging patients and families is an essential part of identifying and preventing patient safety events. This study found that an educational intervention providing patients and families with the skills necessary to audit four safe practices (patient identification, hand hygiene, blood or chemotherapy identification, and related side effects) can provide healthcare organizations with valuable quality and safety information.

… Arch Dis Child … In the second of a two-part series , using examples from newborn units, the authors present a framework for supporting practitioners in low-resource … and (4) enhancing responses to hazardous situations. … Vincent CA, Mboga M, Gathara D, et al. Arch Dis Child.  Epub …

… proactively identify patient safety risks. In the first of a two-part series , the authors draw on the   Systems … framework   to discuss the strengths and challenge of a low-resource newborn unit from a systems perspective and SEIPS’ implications for patient …

Delivering high-quality, safe healthcare requires coordination and integration of complex systems and activities. The authors propose three initiatives to further practical opportunities for transforming health systems across the world – a country-specific blueprint for change, tangible steps to reduce inequities within and across health systems, and learning from both errors and successes to improve safe care delivery.  

In this editorial, patient safety experts discuss threats to healthcare safety and quality due to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., failures in infection prevention and control, diagnostic errors, issues with laboratory testing) and highlight positive changes and opportunities, such as improved care coordination, supply chain innovations, accelerated learning, expansion of telemedicine, and prioritizing the safety and well-being of health care workers.

This editorial discusses priority areas for maintaining and promoting the well-being of the healthcare workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors discuss the importance of providing adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), supporting basic daily needs (e.g., provision of in-hospital food stores), ensuring frequent and visible communication, supporting mental and emotional well-being, addressing ethical concerns, promoting wellness, and showing gratitude for staff.

… J Qual Health Care … The authors of this editorial propose a five-step strategy for patient safety and quality … the learning system to develop resilience . … Staines A, Amalberti R, Berwick DM, et al. COVID-19: patient safety …

This analysis of 220 national incident data from England and Wales’ National Reporting and Learning System  sought to identify safety concerns experienced by children on long-term ventilation at home. The most common problems were with the equipment and devices (e.g., faulty or damaged equipment) or procedures and treatment (e.g. tracheostomy tube becomes dislodged). The reports clearly stated harm to the child in 41% of incidents, such as emergency tracheostomy change or hospital admission. Identified contributory factors involved the patients, staff performance, family caregivers, equipment, organizational, and environmental features.

… did not align in their perception of the seriousness of a given symptom. The authors theorized that misalignment … testing and deterioration in patient–physician trust. A WebM&M commentary described how the cost of a diagnostic test led to a late diagnosis of colon cancer. …

… BMJ Qual Saf … BMJ Qual Saf … Health care is considered a high-risk industry due to clinical, administrative, … economic, and regulatory stressors. This review explores a range of approaches to managing the safety of patients in …