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.

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.

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).

This focus group study of Australian palliative care providers examined risk factors for opioid errors among palliative patients. They identified clinician inexperience, the drug preparation environment, and poor communication as contributory factors for medication errors. The authors conclude that multiple interventions will be needed to enhance opioid safety in palliative care.

This study elicited patients' reports of adverse events during hospitalization. Researchers found that 7% of hospitalized patients reported experiencing an adverse event and, consistent with prior studies, patients contributed unique contextual data to adverse event reporting.

… seeking to optimize opioid prescribing. A WebM&M commentary discussed a case of a death due to an …

An objective structured clinical examination provided an effective assessment of trainee adherence to a number of National Patient Safety Goals. Of note, the tested interns performed poorly in these metrics.

An influential 2010 report called for revision of medical education curricula to incorporate patient safety concepts, terming the issue an "unmet need." A recent systematic review found that while safety curricula generally improved trainees' patient safety knowledge, the optimal method for teaching these concepts remains unclear. This randomized trial compared the efficacy of two different types of online education at improving knowledge of the National Patient Safety Goals and incorporating this knowledge into practice. Spaced education, a technique involving repeated interactive online educational encounters spaced over time, was found to be more effective than standard online modules in improving residents' knowledge and adherence to specific procedural safety techniques. As online education becomes more popular in general, this study provides evidence for spaced education as an effective way to communicate patient safety concepts.

The authors discuss their experience and the keys steps involved in developing a national education program for patient safety.