Patient and family engagement is essential to effective and safe diagnosis. OurDX is a previsit online engagement tool to help identify opportunities to improve diagnostic safety in patients and families living with chronic conditions. In this study, researchers implemented OurDX in specialty and primary care clinics at two academic healthcare organizations and examined the potential safety issues and whether patient/family contributions were integrated into the post-visit notes. Qualitative analysis of 450 OurDX reports found that participants contributed important information about the diagnostic process. Participants with diagnostic concerns were more likely to raise concerns about the diagnostic process (e.g., access barriers, problems with tests/referrals, communication breakdowns), which may represent diagnostic blind spots.

… J Am Med Inform Assoc … Patients and families are encouraged … safety through OurDX: a previsit online engagement tool. J Am Med Inform Assoc. Epub 2023 Jan 24 10.1093/jamia/ocad003 …

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used in an increasing range of health care situations to address a variety of care needs. This commentary examines the impact of AI on patient safety, in diagnosis, and on the limitations of AI that affect reliability.

… family engagement in safety. … Bell SK, Bourgeois F, Dong J, et al. Patient identification of diagnostic safety …

… J Patient Saf … Striving for “ zero harm ” in healthcare has … than performance – goals). … Stockwell DC, Kayes DC, Thomas EJ. J Patient Saf . 2022;18(5):e877-e882. …

… J Healthc Qual … Medical errors in the neonatal intensive … including healthcare-acquired infection. … Nether KG,  Thomas EJ, Khan A, et al. Implementing a robust process … in the neonatal intensive care unit to reduce harm. J Healthc Qual. 2022;44(1):23-30. …

… J Perinatol … Patients in the neonatal intensive care unit … seven days of admission was 6.2%. … Shafer GJ, Singh H, Thomas EJ, et al. Frequency of diagnostic errors in the … intensive care unit: a retrospective cohort study. J Perinatol. Epub 2022 Mar 4. doi: 10.1038/s41372-022-01359-9. …

… emotional, physical, and financial harm . … Bell SK,  Dong J, Ngo L, et al. Diagnostic error experiences of patients and …

Diagnostic safety interventions have been empirically evaluated but real-world implementation challenges persist. This commentary discusses the importance of incorporating contextual factors (e.g., social, cultural) facing complex healthcare systems into the design of diagnostic safety interventions. The authors provide recommendations for designing studies to improve diagnosis that take contextual factors into consideration.

… J Patient Saf … This qualitative study explored the long-term … by patients and families after harmful healthcare events. J Patient Saf. 2021;17(8):e1145-e1151. …

Effective communication between patients and providers – including after an adverse event – is essential for patient safety. This qualitative study identified unique challenges experienced by parents and providers when communicating about adverse birth outcomes – high expectations, powerful emotions, rapid change and progression, family involvement, multiple patients and providers involved, and litigious environment. The authors outline strategies recommended by parents and providers to address these challenges.

Engaging patients and families in their own care can improve outcomes, safety, and satisfaction. This study brought patients, families, clinicians and experts together to identify patient-reported diagnostic process-related breakdowns. The group identified 7 categories, 40 subcategories, 19 contributing factors and 11 patient-reported impacts. Breakdowns were identified in each step of the diagnostic process.

… and drivers of safety culture. … Bisbey TM, Kilcullen MP, Thomas EJ, et al. Safety culture: an integration of existing …

… threats. Acad Pediatr. Epub 2020 Jul 17. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2020.07.014 …

… J Patient Saf Risk Manag … This editorial discusses priority … of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Patient Saf Risk Manag. 2020;25(3):93–96. doi: …

… can affect team performance.  … Tannenbaum SI, Traylor AM, Thomas EJ, et al. Managing teamwork in the face of pandemic: …

Achieving “zero harm” has been advocated as a patient safety goal. This editorial proposes that the conversation shift from striving to achieve absolute safety (Zero Harm) towards actively managing risk using both reactive and proactive approaches to safety management.

… involved in the error. … Prentice JC, Bell SK, Thomas EJ, et al. Association of open communication and the …

Using qualitative methods, this study sought to understand parent perceptions of patient safety in the NICU. The authors present a conceptual model of ‘parents as partners’ in NICU patient safety, emphasizing the importance of clinicians who are present, intentional, and respectful and highlighting factors influencing the parent-clinician partnership, such as communication and teamwork practices.

Prior research has found that perceptions about safety climate varies across neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This large cross-sectional study examining the impact of caregiver perceptions of safety climate on clinical outcomes found that stronger safety climates were associated with lower risk of healthcare-associated infections, but climate did not affect mortality rates.