… an important component of diagnostic excellence. Through a systematic review and observations of team dynamics in a hospital medical ward, researchers identified three areas …

This article describes one academic health center’s protocol to initiate universal preoperative screening and testing for COVID-19 as they began to restore nonurgent, essential surgical care.

… (NSQIP) registry data to assess patient outcomes. Over a six-month period, 22.5% of residents self-reported a near-miss medical error and nearly 7% reported an error …

This review discusses the importance of teamwork in supporting safety, psychological states driving effective safety performance, organizational- and team-level characteristics impacting safety performance, and the role of teams in safety management.

… … Preventing health care–associated infections remains a patient safety priority. This multisite study compared … pneumonia before and after implementation of a multifaceted intervention. Investigators adopted the … in ventilator-associated pneumonia rates due to a change in the definition. These results demonstrate the …

… medicine … Crit Care Med … This study aimed to validate a behavioral marker as a measure of teamwork , specifically in the intensive care …

This systematic review of opioid stewardship practices following surgery identified eight intervention studies intended to reduce postsurgical opioid use. Organizational-level interventions such as changing orders in the electronic health record, demonstrated clear reductions in opioid prescribing. Clinician-facing interventions such as development and dissemination of local guidelines also led to reduced opioid prescribing. The authors emphasize the need for more high-quality evidence on opioid stewardship interventions.

… Am Psychol … Teamwork in health care has been embraced as a key element of patient safety. This review summarizes the …

… cancer surgeries. The program was associated with a significant reduction in surgical site infections and an …

Standardization of care protocols has been shown to improve perioperative outcomes. This article presents the results of an evidence review to develop best practices for perioperative care around colorectal surgery. The authors acknowledge the need for local tailoring in implementing these recommendations.

… state that while these results are reassuring, there is a need for further study to determine the safety of …

… factors and solutions. Fear of malpractice was cited as a major reason for overtreatment. …

… reduce errors and accidents. This commentary outlines a framework that focuses on integrating competencies at all …

This commentary describes the development of a multidisciplinary council to collectively lead patient safety efforts for children's hospitals in a large health system. The authors highlight the value the council brought to project coordination, standard setting, and performance improvement across the organization.

… Surgeons … J Am Coll Surg … Surgical site infections are a persistent and costly challenge to patient safety. These …

… of health care. This implementation study described a peer-to-peer assessment program adapted from the nuclear …

Program infrastructure that incorporates the knowledge of staff at executive and unit levels can enable system improvements to be sustained over time. This commentary describes how an academic medical center integrated departmental needs with overarching organizational concerns to inform safety and quality improvement work. The authors highlight the need for flexibility and structure to ensure success.

Resident physician duty hour policies have generated rigorous debate, particularly following the most recent ACGME changes implemented in 2011, which shortened maximum shift lengths for interns and increased time off between shifts. This national study cluster-randomized 118 general surgery residency programs to adhere to current ACGME duty hour policies or to abide by more flexible rules that essentially followed the prior standard of a maximum 80-hour work week. Between these two groups, there were no significant differences in patient outcomes, including death and serious complications. Residents reported similar levels of satisfaction with their overall education quality and their well-being. An accompanying editorial notes that the study authors interpret these results as supporting flexible work-hour rules. Alternatively, the editorial author suggests that this study refutes concerns that the new policy compromises patient safety, and as such there is no compelling reason to backtrack on its implementation.

… to fewer infections. Although this work does not establish a clear cause-and-effect relationship between safety culture …

Simulation has been used to improve patient safety in multiple settings. This study examines how simulation can enhance safety leadership. Executive leaders in health care organizations were given the simulated task of addressing patient safety failures, with the goal of improving participants' competency in transparency and safety culture. Qualitative analysis demonstrated widely diverging participant responses. There was a lack of leadership engagement with frontline staff around safety. Participants cited leadership walk rounds and committee participation as possible leadership involvement mechanisms. The authors also noted that participants did not consistently engage patients in their safety strategies. Simulation appears to be a promising leadership education strategy that may uncover gaps in current leadership practices. A PSNet perspective explored how leaders can promote cultural changes to improve patient safety.