Inappropriate care, such as under- or over-treatment or unnecessary hospitalizations, can place patients at risk for adverse events. This observational study set in a high-complexity hospital in Spain found that patients with inappropriate hospital admissions (IHA) have a higher risk of subsequent adverse events, contributing to longer stays and additional costs.

Community pharmacists are perhaps the last line of defense in preventing medication errors in the outpatient setting; therefore, ensuring a strong safety culture is critical. This review identified 11 studies reporting on safety culture using the AHRQ Community Pharmacy Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Pharmacists and pharmacy staff rated overall patient safety highly, but more than half identified workload as a concern.

Medication reconciliation is used when a patient moves from one level or location of care to another, to ensure they are receiving the appropriate medications. This retrospective study reviewed completed medication reconciliations of adult patients transferring from the intensive care unit to the ward. Nearly one in five had an error requiring physician changes to the order. Of those errors, 19% were high-alert medications, most notably low-molecular-weight heparin.

Delayed diagnosis of appendicitis can lead to serious patient harm. This study of 7,452 pediatric patients with appendicitis found that delayed diagnosis occurred in 1.4% of cases and increased clinician use of blood tests decreased the likelihood of delayed diagnosis.

As more patients with COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals during the pandemic, concerns about healthcare-acquired COVID-19 and potential associated adverse events increased. In this retrospective study, 126 patients with hospital-acquired COVID-19 were moved to isolation or quarantine. Twenty-nine patients experienced one or more adverse events due to isolation or quarantine, including delayed transfer to other specialties and delayed diagnostic tests. Nosocomial COVID-19 infection was confirmed as cause of death in one patient, and a possible cause in 11 others.

Delayed referrals from primary care providers to specialty care can lead to delayed diagnoses and patient harm. This retrospective analysis examined differences in timely versus delayed referrals for urgent skin cancer evaluations at one institution. Among 320 referrals occurring in 2018, 38% of evaluations occurred 31 days or more after the referral and nearly 11% of referrals were never completed. Delayed referrals were more common among patients who did not speak English and racial/ethnic minorities.

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.  

Adverse events in pediatric emergency departments (ED) are rare, but largely preventable. This study examined characteristics and risk factors of patients with delayed diagnosis (i.e., presented to the ED within one week of a previous visit) and patients without delayed diagnosis of one of 7 serious medical conditions. Patients who were Hispanic or non-Hispanic Black, had public or other insurance, or non-English speaking were associated with delayed diagnosis.

… of the transfer request being denied. … Alagoz E, Saucke M, Arroyo N, et al. Communication during interhospital …

Clinician workload has been linked with poor patient outcomes. This retrospective cohort study assessed the outcomes for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) performed as a surgeons’ first versus non-first procedure of the day. Findings suggest that prior workload adversely affected outcomes for patients undergoing CABG surgery, with increases in adverse events, myocardial infarction, and stroke compared to first procedures.

Clinical decision support (CDS) systems are designed to improve diagnosis. Researchers surveyed emergency department physicians about their evaluation of human factors-based CDS systems to improve diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Although perceived usability was high, use of the CDS tool in the real clinical environment was low; the authors identified several barriers to use, including lack of workflow integration.

… medication, and drug-drug interactions were common. … Díez R, Cadenas R, Susperregui J, et al. Drug-related problems and …

Older adults are at high risk for 30-day unplanned hospital readmission. This study identified patient-level risk factors among patients 75 years or older who were initially hospitalized for fall-related injuries. Risk factors included being a male, abnormal concentration of C-reactive protein, and anemia. Discharge programs targeting these patients could reduce 30-day unplanned readmissions.

Patient falls are considered a never event and can result in serious injury. This study retrospectively reviewed inpatient falls resulting in injury and the strength of the improvement recommendations proposed after investigation of the event. The researchers classified 8.5% of recommendations as ‘strong’ (i.e., environmental modifications, equipment/process redesign), 35.7% as ‘medium’ (i.e., changing documentation process and/or skill mix, providing education) and 55.8% as ‘weak’ (i.e., alerts or warnings).

… for residents with respiratory conditions or pain. … Patterson ME,  Bollinger S, Coleman C, et al. Medication …

Trigger tools are one method of retrospectively detecting adverse events. In this study, researchers used data from 31 Spanish hospitals to validate a trigger tool in general and gastrointestinal surgery departments. Of 40 triggers, 12 were identified for optimizing predictive power of the trigger tool, including broad spectrum antibiotherapy, unscheduled postoperative radiology, and reintervention.

Effective team communication is a cornerstone to ensuring safe patient care, particularly during stressful situations. To evaluate baseline team communication behavior, clinicians at this institution participated in interprofessional video-recorded simulations of a code response and debriefing, followed by standardized evaluations by external reviewers. Evaluations indicate variable performance on different team communication behaviors (highest for escalating care and thinking out loud, lowest for verbally establishing leadership). The authors suggest that assessing baseline communication behaviors can guide future interventions to promote and improve quality and patient safety.

… greater power and is methodologically sound. … Ciapponi A, Fernandez Nievas SE, Seijo M, et al. Reducing medication errors for adults in hospital …

The surge of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic forced the redeployment of non-intensive care certified staff into intensive care units (ICU). This study surveyed both intensive care (IC)-certified and non-IC-certified healthcare providers who were working in ICUs at the beginning of the pandemic. Qualitative synthesis identified five themes related to supervision; quality and safety of care; collaboration, communication, and climate; recruitment, scheduling and team composition, and; organization and facilities. The authors provide recommendations for future deployments.