The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires post-graduate education to include patient safety curriculum. This article describes the development and evaluation of a curriculum for residents on patient safety investigations using the Root Cause Analysis and Action (RCA2) model. Residents were surveyed at least one year after completion of the training. Sixty-three percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed residents should be provided with the RCA2 training and nearly half reported having participated on an RCA team since completing the program.

Previous research suggests that residents may underutilize adverse event reporting tools. This article describes an 18-month clinical learning collaborative among 16 sites intended to increase resident and fellow participation in patient safety event investigations. Researchers found the collaborative increased participation in event investigation and improved the quality of the investigation.

Patient suicide is a sentinel event, and suicide among veterans has gained attention. In this retrospective analysis of suicide-related events reported to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Center for Patient Safety between January 2018 and June 2022, researchers found that deficiencies in mental health treatment, communication challenges, and unsafe environments were the most common contributors to suicide-related events.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed healthcare delivery and exacerbated threats to patient safety. Using Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Center for Patient Safety data, this retrospective study characterized patient safety events related to COVID-19 occurring between March 2020 and February 2021. Delays in care and exposure to COVID-19 were the most common events and confusion over procedures, missed care, and failure to identify COVID-positive patients before exposures were the most common contributing factors.

Changes in healthcare delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in delays in care that can lead to patient harm. In this study using patient safety event data submitted to the VHA National Center of Patient Safety, researchers identified healthcare delays involving laboratory results, treatment and interventional procedures, and diagnosis.   

The first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic forced healthcare organizations to respond to patient safety issues in real-time. The Veterans Health Administration’s National Center for Patient Safety established two working groups to rapidly monitor quality and safety issues and make timely recommendations to staff. The formation, activities, and primary themes of safety issues are described.

Healthcare organizations use multiple proactive and reactive methods of investigating and preventing adverse events. This study combined proactive and reactive risk assessments into a Combined Proactive Risk Assessment (CPRA) to identify risks not detected by one method on its own. The four steps of CPRA are illustrated using the example of outpatient blood draws in the Veterans Health Administration.

… 12% reflected delays in surgery. Policies and processes (e.g., lack of standardized processes, procedures not followed … challenges, and equipment or supply issues. … Politi RE, Mills PD, Zubkoff L, et al. Delays in diagnosis, treatment, …

… and (4) the method for hemodialysis delivery. … Walton E,  Charles M, Morrish W, et al. Hemodialysis bleeding events and deaths: …

… communication and coordination of care. … Soncrant C, Mills PD, Pendley Louis RP, et al. Review of reported adverse …

Researchers reviewed 15 years of root cause analysis reports of all instances of suicide and suicide attempts on Veterans Health Administration (VHA) grounds. Forty-seven suicides or suicide attempts were identified, and primary root causes included communication breakdown and a need for improved suicide interventions. The paper includes recommended actions to address the root causes of attempted and completed patient suicides.

Opioid misuse and overdose continues to be a patient safety concern. This study conducted root cause analyses of 82 adverse event reports involving opioid use at the Veterans Health Administration. The most frequent event type was medication administration error and the most frequent root cause was staff not following hospital policies or hospitals not having opioid-related policies. 

… to greater improvements.   … Veazie S, Peterson K, Bourne D, et al. Implementing high-reliability organization …

The goal of high-reliability organizations is to operate in high-hazard domains with consistently safe conditions, but implementation of high reliability has yet to be universally employed in health care. This article describes the implementation of a high-reliability hospital framework on patient safety culture and clinical outcomes at one VHA medical center. Framework components included an annual patient safety assessment, annual safety culture survey, annual root cause analysis (RCA) training, leadership walk arounds, and just culture training. Three years after implementation, patient safety culture and event reporting rates improved, and the medical center experienced significant improvements in mortality and complication rates compared to other VHA hospitals. Based on these results, the framework will be implemented across 18 additional VHA sites.

Patient misidentification can lead to serious patient safety risks. Researchers used patient safety reports and root cause analyses (RCA) to characterize patient misidentification events in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The incidence of patient misidentification in inpatient and outpatient settings was similar and most commonly attributed to the absence of two unique patient identifiers. The authors identified three strategies to mitigate misidentification based on high-reliability principles: (1) develop policies for patient identification throughout the continuum of care, (2) develop policies to report and monitor patient misidentification measures, and (3) apply quality and process improvement tools to patient identification emphasizing use by front line staff.  

This retrospective analysis used root cause analysis reports of suicide events in VA hospitals to characterize suicide attempts and deaths and provide prevention recommendations. Recommendations include avoidance of environmental hazards, medication monitoring, control of firearms, and close observation.

Retained surgical items (RSI) are considered ‘never events’ but continue to occur. In this study, researchers compared the RSI rate in Veterans Health (VA) surgery programs with (n=46) and without (n=91) surgical count technology and analyzed the resulting root cause analyses (RCA) for these events. The RSI rate was significantly higher in for the programs with surgical count technology compared to the programs without (1/18,221 vs. 1/30,593). Analysis of RCAs found the majority of incidents (64%) involved human factors issues (e.g., staffing changes during shifts, staff fatigue), policy/procedure failures (e.g., failure to perform methodical wound sweep) or communication errors.

In this retrospective review of root cause analysis (RCA) reports of select gastrointestinal procedures, researchers identified 27 adverse events 30-month period. Nearly half (48%) of events caused major or catastrophic harm. The most frequently reported adverse events were attributable to human factors (22%), medication errors (22%) or retained items; retained items were associated with the most harm.

… (11%) or lacking standardization (10%). … Gill S, Mills PD, Watts BV, et al. A review of adverse event reports …