True partnership with patients and families in safety work is an important yet elusive goal. This commentary outlines elements supporting engagement as part of an ambitious global plan and awareness campaign to ensure medical error reduction efforts are fully informed and enriched through the application of the patient and family experience in health care.

‘Second victim’ is controversial term used to describe health care professionals who experience continuing psychological harm after involvement in a medical error or adverse event. In this study, an expert panel reviewed existing definitions of ‘second victim’ in the literature and proposed a new consensus-based definition.

… J Health Serv Res Policy … A key aspect of patient safety culture is the perception that … and senior leader participants, deciding to report a safety event (referred to as a “voiceable concern”) is influenced by four factors: …

… as one key component of good quality care. … Hannawa AF, Wu AW, Kolyada A, et al. The aspects of healthcare quality that are important to health professionals and patients: a qualitative study. Patient Educ Couns. Epub 2021 Oct 30. …

… online open courses (MOOCs) have the ability to reach a broad audience of learners. The Science of Safety in … learning format. … Gleason KT, Commodore-Mensah Y, Wu AW, et al. Massive open online course (MOOC) learning … competence for patient safety among global learners: a prospective cohort study. Nurse Educ …

… 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 practitioners to provide the safest care possible. … Wu AW, Vincent C, Shapiro DW, et al. Mitigating the July …

… and lack of financial resources. Findings indicate a need for implementing new second victim support programs, … healthcare providers facing the burden of adverse events: a systematic review of second victim support resources. Int J …

… can motivate and support speaking up behaviors. … Wu F, Dixon-Woods M, Aveling EL, et al. The role of the … formal organisation in voice about concerns in healthcare: a qualitative interview study. Soc Sci Med. 2021;280:114050. …

… to the use of organization support programs. … Edrees HH, Wu AW. Does one size fit all? Assessing the need for …

… RISE: exploring volunteer retention and sustainability of a second victim support program. J Healthc Manag. …

… safety and quality due to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., failures in infection prevention and control, diagnostic … the safety and well-being of health care workers. … Wu AW, Sax H, Letaief M, et al. COVID-19: the dark side and …

… equipment (PPE), supporting basic daily needs (e.g., provision of in-hospital food stores), ensuring frequent … , promoting wellness, and showing gratitude for staff. … Wu AW, Buckle P, Haut ER, et al. Supporting the emotional …

… ten health care systems to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention to prevent falls with injury , … trained nurses. The intervention did not result in a significantly lower rate of serious fall injury compared to usual care. … Bhasin S, Gill TM, Reuben DB, et al. A randomized trial of a multifactorial strategy to prevent …

In this literature review, the authors identified patient-, clinician-, and institutional-level barriers to patient involvement in patient safety investigations. Potential strategies for overcoming barriers are also discussed, such as adopting a blame-free climate and enhancing clinician training in error disclosure and communication.

To address the negative psychological impacts faced by healthcare workers during the COVID-19 crisis, the authors of this commentary recommend three strategic principles for healthcare institutions responding to the pandemic: Encourage leadership to focus on resilience  Ensure that crisis communication provides both information and empowerment Create a continuum of staff support within the organization to address a surge in mental health concerns among healthcare workers.

… (4) directed leadership to implement successful change. … Wu AW, Dzau VJ. What can patient safety teach us about …

Adverse events can have significant psychological impacts on the providers involved and involvement in medical errors can increase risk of burnout among second victims. This study describes the nurse utilization of the Resilience in Stressful Events (RISE) peer support program. The authors found high awareness of the program among nurses, but low utilization. Nurses who had used the program reported greater resilience, but more burnout than those who had not.

Root cause analysis is a fundamental approach to understanding how failures occur, but some have questioned its effectiveness in health care. This review highlights alternative approaches to incident analysis that address some of the concerns with root cause analysis, such as time commitment and lack of follow up.

Preventing health care–associated infections remains a patient safety priority. This multisite study compared rates of central line–associated bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia before and after implementation of a multifaceted intervention. Investigators adopted the comprehensive unit-based safety program, which emphasizes safety culture and includes staff education, identification of safety risks, leadership engagement, and team training. Central line–associated bloodstream infections and surgical site infections initially declined, but rates returned to baseline in the third year. They were unable to measure differences in ventilator-associated pneumonia rates due to a change in the definition. These results demonstrate the challenge of implementing and sustaining evidence-based safety practices in real-world clinical settings. A past PSNet interview discussed infection prevention and patient safety.