Children with intellectual disabilities can be at higher risk for patient safety events. Based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with healthcare professionals, this study describes several themes regarding healthcare professionals’ perspectives about patient safety considerations when caring for children and young people with intellectual disabilities. Findings underscore the importance of considering additional vulnerabilities, improving engagement with patients and families, and mitigating negative attitudes and biases.

Patient engagement focuses on involving patients in detecting adverse events, empowering patients to speak up, and emphasizing the patient’s role in a culture of safety. Young people ages 16-25 with experiences in cancer care, and staff who support young people with cancer were asked about their experiences with three types of patient engagement strategies. Four themes for engaging young people emerged, including empowerment, transparency, participatory culture, and flexibility. Across all these was a fifth theme of transition from youth to adult care.  

Providers who are involved in a medial error may experience a range of negative emotions and utilize a variety of coping mechanisms following the error. The authors update their 2010 systematic review on medical professionals’ coping with medical error and apply their Recovery from Situations of Error Theory (ReSET) model. The ReSET model provides a basis to develop and evaluate interventions to reduce feelings of distress and increase providers’ coping skills.

Patients with intellectual disabilities may be at higher risk for patient safety events. In this study, researchers qualitatively analyzed hospital incident reporting data and identified incidents categories disproportionately experienced by children with intellectual disabilities. These incident categories included medication-intravenous fluid issues, communication failures, clinical deterioration, and care issues identified by parents.

Lack of patient engagement in care can place them at increased risk for safety events. This qualitative study explored ethnic minority stakeholder perspectives about patient engagement in cancer care. Focus groups consisting of participants from consumer and health organizations involved in cancer care in Australia identified three themes supporting successful engagement – consideration of sociocultural beliefs about cancer, adaptation of existing techniques tailored to stakeholders (e.g., culturally specific content), and accounting for factors such as cultural competence during implementation.

Children with intellectual disabilities can be at higher risk for patient safety events and poor-quality care. This systematic review and thematic analysis identified several themes (e.g., distress, communication, training, and education) underscoring healthcare staff experiences in providing care for pediatric patients with intellectual disabilities. The review found that healthcare staff feel they lack necessary skills to provide care for children with intellectual disabilities and have difficulties communicating effectively with both patients and their parents.

… to children without intellectual disabilities. … Mimmo L, Harrison R, Travaglia J, et al. Inequities in quality and …

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults can result in medication-related harm. This systematic review of 63 studies found that potentially inappropriate prescribing was significantly associated with several system-related and health-related outcomes for older adults, including mortality, readmissions, adverse drug events, and functional decline.

Health care decision making and delivery are vulnerable to unconscious bias. This commentary discusses strategies in place to address unconscious bias as it affects medication safety. The authors suggest a focus on engaging ethnic minority consumers as partners to design improvement programs to enhance medication delivery.

This study explored associations between person-related (e.g., individual responsible for medication error), environment-related (e.g., transitions of care), and communication-related (e.g., misreading of medication order) medication errors in two Australian hospitals. The authors recommend that improved communication regarding medications with patients and families could reduce medication errors associated with possible or probable harm.

Patients and families are essential partners in identifying and preventing safety events. This systematic review characterizes patient engagement along a continuum of engagement that includes consultation (e.g., patients are invited to provide input about a specific safety issue), involvement (e.g., patients are asked about their preferences/concerns and given the opportunity to engage with practitioners about a specific issue), and partnership/leadership (e.g., patients ‘work’ with practitioners to improve the safety of their care, often using tools designed to empower patients to alert practitioners to concerns).

Medication errors are a common cause of preventable harm in long-term care facilities. This systematic review explored how residents and families engage in medication management in aged care facilities. Factors hindering effective engagement included insufficient communication between residents, families, and providers; families’ hesitation about decision making; and lack of provider training.

Medication safety, particularly among older adults who may have complex medication regimens, is an ongoing safety concern. This study explored medication safety behaviors among young-old (65-74 years), middle-old (75-84 years) and old-old (>85 years) adults. The authors found that older adults are willing to engage in medication safety behaviors, but that preferred behaviors (e.g., verbal behaviors, self-administering medication, reviewing medication charts) differed among the age groups.

Interprofessional communication is critical to safe medication management during transitions of care. Researchers conducted this ethnographic study to explore inter- and intra-professional communications during older adults’ transitions of care. Communication was influenced by the transferring setting, receiving setting, and ‘real-time’ communication. Lack of, or poor, communication impacted medication safety; researchers recommend more proactive communication and involvement of the pharmacist.

… alongside individual-level interventions. … Janes G, Harrison R, Johnson J, et al. Multiple meanings of …

Oral chemotherapy regimens are complex and may lead to severe adverse drug events. Through ethnographic research, the authors found that the two most important factors in ensuring optimal management of oral chemotherapy are (1) early recognition and appropriate response to side effects and (2) maintenance of safe and effective medication communication.

In this systematic review, the authors characterized patient safety events affecting ethnic minority populations internationally. Findings indicate that ethnic minority populations experience higher rates of hospital-acquired infections, complications, adverse drug events, and dosing errors. The authors identified several factors contributing to the increased risk, including language proficiency, beliefs about illness and treatment, interpreter use, consumer engagement, and interactions with health professionals.

Transitions of care represent a vulnerable time for patients. Older adults in particular may experience a variety of challenges related to such transitions, including managing changes to their medications. This systematic review suggests that there is significant opportunity for health care providers to improve family engagement in managing medications of elderly patients during care transitions.

Mentors can serve as coaches to help improve clinician performance. This study examined whether having a professional mentor affected physicians' involvement in an adverse event or near miss. In an online survey, 85% of physicians reported involvement in either an adverse event or near miss, and nearly half described having a mentor. Physicians with mentors were about 10% less likely to be involved in adverse events or near misses, across differing levels of harm. The authors conclude that mentoring for physicians may reduce preventable harm but suggest that further research is needed to determine the elements of mentorship that improve safety outcomes. In a past PSNet interview, Hardeep Singh touched on the importance of mentorship in supporting patient safety researchers.

Patients with intellectual disabilities face numerous safety threats, often related to poor communication. In keeping with prior research, this systematic review suggests that children with intellectual disabilities may experience poor-quality care and are at increased risk for adverse events.