Increased use of telehealth presents both benefits and potential threats to patient safety. In this study of 4,133 patients, researchers found that orders for colonoscopies or cardiac stress tests and dermatology referrals placed during telehealth visits were less likely to be completed within the designated timeframe compared to those ordered during in-person visits (43% vs. 58%). Not completing test or referrals within the recommended timeframe can increase the risk of delayed diagnoses and patient harm.

Implementation challenges can hinder the effectiveness of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC). This study describes the validation of the Checklist Performance Observation for Improvement (CheckPOINT) tool to assess SSC implementation fidelity. Based on testing in simulated and real-life clinical practice, researchers found that that the tool can reliably assess implementation fidelity and identify opportunities for improvement.

The opioid epidemic has prompted national and institutional guidelines for safe opioid prescribing. This paper describes the development, implementation, and sustainment of a toolkit for safer opioid prescribing for chronic pain in primary care. The authors describe organizational, technical, and external barriers to implementation along with attempted solutions and their effects. The toolkit is available as supplemental material.

Disruptive behavior includes behaviors that show disrespect for others and impede safe delivery of patient care. This commentary presents a framework for new physician managers to address disruptive behavior modeled after clinical medicine: diagnose, treat, prevent. The authors stress maintaining curiosity during the “diagnostic” phase, careful consideration of “treatment” and follow-up, and “prevention” of future disruption though intentional training and building a culture of safety.

Patient safety learning laboratories (PSLL) encourage a cross-disciplinary, collaborative approach to problem solving. This study reports on how a learning ecosystem supported the success of three distinct PSLLs. Qualitative and quantitative results reveal four types of alignment and supporting practices that contribute to the success of the learning laboratories.

… buy-in on the value of parent engagement. … Khan A, Baird J, Kelly MM, et al. Family safety reporting in …

Work conditions can impact clinician satisfaction and the quality and safety of the care they provide. This study sought to identify the combination of systems features (team dynamics, provider-perceived safety culture, patient care coordination) that positively impact work satisfaction in primary care practices. Results showed a strong culture of safety combined with more effective team dynamics were sufficient to lead to improved work satisfaction.

Labor and delivery is a high-risk care environment. This study evaluated a quality improvement initiative (TeamBirth) designed to promote shared decision-making and safety culture in labor and delivery. This mixed-methods study included both clinicians and patients at four hospitals and found that the program was feasible, increased the use of huddles, and had no negative effects on patient safety.

Medical errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, and frequently result from potentially preventable human errors associated with poor communication and teamwork. This systematic review included 16 studies that were examined for assessment tools, training interventions, safety culture improvement, and teamwork intervention outcomes. The authors conclude that training staff on teamwork and communication improve the safety culture, and may reduce medical errors and adverse events in the Emergency Department.

… Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf … As part of a quality improvement initiative to enhance surgical … 20 physicians to understand potential areas of risk when a physician begins working in an unfamiliar setting.   …

… BMJ (Clinical research ed.) … BMJ … Checklists are a popular yet controversial strategy for improving the safety … debate the weaknesses and strengths of checklists through a discussion of the evidence . …

Ambulatory surgery centers are increasingly utilized to provide surgical care to patients. Quality improvement approaches utilized in the inpatient setting may need to be modified or adapted to be applicable in the ambulatory surgery environment. Researchers describe efforts to implement a surgical safety checklist and infection control techniques across 665 ambulatory surgery centers recruited for the study. They identified several barriers and conclude that the unique aspects of ambulatory surgery centers must be taken into account when implementing quality improvement initiatives.

This study in the Health Affairs patient safety theme issue examines the implementation of surgical safety checklists. Checklists have been shown to improve patient outcomes in randomized control trials, but implementation studies have not consistently demonstrated similar improvements. In this statewide initiative, implementation of the checklist varied significantly among sites. Factors associated with more successful implementation included greater leadership participation, frontline engagement, and more frequent activities for all involved groups, including surgeons, nurses, technicians, and administrators. Sites that invested more funding and time also saw greater checklist implementation. The authors conclude that hospitals that participated more did better. Past PSNet interviews with Lucian Leape and David Urbach discussed their perspectives on surgical safety checklists.

Checklists have been shown to improve surgical outcomes in clinical trials, but their effectiveness in real-world settings is variable. This implementation study examined factors related to checklist use in the operating room for crises rather than routine practice. Investigators surveyed individuals who downloaded a checklist from two websites about whether they used a checklist regularly in specific clinical situations. Thorough checklist implementation, leadership support, and dedicated staff training time led to more regular use of the checklist. Conversely, frontline resistance and lack of clinical champions undermined checklist use. The authors conclude that optimizing organizational conditions should increase the use of checklists during crises in operating rooms. Past PSNet interviews with Lucian Leape and David Urbach discussed their perspectives on surgical safety checklists.

Changes in organizational process and governance can create downstream conditions that result in failures. This commentary explored how system expansion affects safety. The authors highlight the need for leadership to use system data to plan for and manage the impact of the resultant infrastructure and patient population changes on care delivery.

Physicians who receive more patient complaints about communication and behavior are more likely to face malpractice claims. This study examined whether results from surgeons' 360-degree reviews, in which team members evaluate a range of professional attributes and behaviors, were associated with risk of malpractice claims. Surgeons with worse performance for attentiveness, informing others, and considering others' suggestions had a significantly higher risk for malpractice claims. Surgeons in the highest 10% for the negative behaviors of snapping at or talking down to others also were more likely to have malpractice claims. These results echo prior studies of physician behavior and malpractice risk. The authors suggest that addressing negative behaviors among surgeons could mitigate malpractice risk. A previous WebM&M commentary discussed patient complaints as safety surveillance.

High reliability is a goal throughout health care. This commentary describes how lessons from high reliability organizations can be applied to accountable care organizations to enhance quality, reduce costs, and support population health. The authors describe ways to engage organizations in this work through mindfulness, leadership, and research.

Establishing a robust culture of safety, in which all staff feel free to voice concerns without fear of reprisal and leadership explicitly prioritizes safety, is crucial to safety improvement efforts. The most successful safety improvement programs have all explicitly prioritized enhancing safety culture. This study reports on the baseline results of a program that sought to improve surgical safety at hospitals in South Carolina. Safety culture was assessed among operating room personnel in 31 hospitals using a validated instrument. The investigators found a relatively robust association between better perceived safety culture and lower 30-day postoperative mortality. Studies in other clinical settings have found similar results. The hospitals involved in this study subsequently participated in a program to implement the Surgical Safety Checklist, which resulted in a significant improvement in mortality among participating hospitals compared to nonparticipating hospitals. A recent PSNet interview with Dr. Mary Dixon-Woods discussed the evolving concept of safety culture.

… Medical care … Med Care … A recent AHRQ technical brief on ambulatory safety found that … controlled trial examined whether participation in a multimodal quality improvement intervention enhanced safety … that clinics receiving the intervention—which included a learning network, webinars, in-person meetings, and …

This qualitative study used data from free-text survey comments to examine the effectiveness of surgical safety checklist implementation at 11 hospitals. Although most operating room staff viewed the checklist positively, obtaining buy-in for consistent checklist use by all staff remained challenging.