… not associated with pandemic-related change practices. … Auerbach AD, Astik GJ, O'Leary KJ, et al. Prevalence and …

… diagnoses in patients admitted for other reasons). … Auerbach A, O'Leary KJ, Greysen SR, et al. Hospital ward …

… tools for staff, EHR templates). … Stolldorf DP, Mixon AS, Auerbach AD, et al. Implementation and sustainability of a …

Engaging trainees in quality improvement efforts has been an important area of focus within graduate medical education, but less is known about how health system resources are aligned with these activities. Researchers used survey data to better understand the perceptions of internal medicine residency program directors regarding health system support for and alignment with graduate medical education quality improvement efforts.

Over the last decade, the Lucian Leape Institute has explored five key areas in health care to advance patient safety. These include medical education reform, care integration, patient and family engagement, transparency, and joy and meaning in work and workforce safety for health care professionals. This review highlights progress to date in each area and the challenges that remain to be addressed, including increasing clinician burnout and shortcomings of existing health information technology approaches. The authors also suggest opportunities for further research such as measuring the impact of residency training programs. In a past PSNet interview, Dr. Tejal Gandhi, president of the IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute, discussed improving patient safety at a national level.

The impact of electronic health records has thus far been disappointing for many clinicians, with limited effect on patient safety and growing concern that electronic health records may contribute to physician burnout. This commentary discusses the productivity paradox of information technology—the fact that digitization often initially impedes productivity rather than enhancing it. The authors highlight recent advancements in health care information technology that hold promise to overcome the productivity paradox, such as artificial intelligence, and discuss barriers that must be surmounted in order for health IT to meet its potential.

Digital tools have the potential to improve diagnosis, patient self-care, and patient–clinician communication. This commentary argues that digital tools that alter diagnosis or treatment require examination to ensure safety. The authors provide recommendations such as involving experts in evaluating the tools, engaging information technologists, and continuous local review and assessment to identify and address risks associated with use of such tools in practice.

Patient safety in the ambulatory setting is gaining traction as a focus of research and improvement efforts. Discussing the methods and results of an AHRQ Technical Brief, this commentary summarizes expert opinion on the report to propose recommendations for a research strategy on ambulatory patient safety. The authors outline patient safety practices relevant to the ambulatory setting and suggest activities to advance improvement efforts in outpatient care, such as measure development and use of health information technologies.

This retrospective cohort study demonstrated that a readmission risk score could prospectively identify patients at risk for readmissions for the four target conditions for nonpayment: acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, and heart failure. These results suggest that this algorithm can identify a high-risk patient group who may benefit from interventions to prevent readmission.

It is critical to educate trainees about patient safety. In this study, researchers described lessons learned from creating a leadership role that bridges quality and safety activities with graduate medical education in each of their institutions. Key responsibilities included clinical oversight, faculty development, and educational innovation. The authors advocate for further evaluation of this safety and education leadership role to determine its impact on medical education and patient outcomes.

Hospitals with high readmission rates face reductions in Medicare reimbursements. Understanding the patient perspective at the time of readmission may better inform future readmission reduction efforts. Researchers surveyed patients readmitted to the general medicine services within 30 days of discharge across 12 hospitals on multiple aspects of self-care. Although 91% of patients reported understanding of their discharge plan, more than 52% reported difficulty with at least one aspect of self-care after discharge.

Health care institutions are increasingly focused on providing high-value care and preventing overuse. In this study, researchers developed a validated High-Value Care Culture Survey and found that administering the survey at two large academic medical centers provided health care leaders with an opportunity to target their improvement efforts.

Patient safety research and commentary often focus on specialized care processes rather than medical wards. Exploring challenges to improving safety in the medical ward environment, this commentary outlines four strategies to address complexity of implementing initiatives in this setting.

Despite advances in handoff practices, printed signout documents remain ubiquitous in inpatient settings. This chart review study found that the accuracy of printed signout sheets decline significantly over the course of a physician shift. This work highlights the need for more real-time updated patient information than a printed page can provide.

Preventing readmissions is a cornerstone of patient safety efforts. However, one concern about nonpayment for readmissions is that many may not be preventable. To determine whether they were preventable, this observational study investigated readmissions through patient and physician surveys along with chart review. Researchers determined that only one quarter of readmissions were preventable. Factors associated with potential preventability were premature hospital discharge, insufficient communication with outpatient providers, failure to discuss care goals, and emergency department decisions to readmit a patient who did not require a second inpatient stay. These results suggest that multiple interventions will be needed to avert readmissions, and such efforts will have limited impact since most readmissions are not preventable.

Although financial incentives have been widely adopted, they may not lead to organizational improvements. This commentary raises concerns about including hospital mortality in incentive programs, since patient deaths do not necessarily mean poor quality care. The authors suggest that further research is needed to enhance accuracy of risk-adjusted mortality and to account for differences in patient treatment preferences.

Implementing standardized handoff processes has garnered attention as a strategy to improve patient safety. In this commentary, the authors apply cognitive load theory to handoff tasks to demonstrate how to improve handover bundles and enhance reliability.