Health information technology (IT) usability continues to be a source of patient harm. This study describes the perspectives of a variety of pediatric trauma team members (e.g., pediatric emergency medicine attending, surgical technician, pediatric intensive care unit attending) on the usability of a potential team health IT care transition tool. Numerous barriers and facilitators were identified and varied across department and role.

Parents of children with medical complexity can offer unique perspectives on hospital quality and safety. Prior to their child's discharge, parents were surveyed about their child's care, medications, safety, and other concerns experienced during their stay. Parents reported experiencing miscommunication with the providers and providers seemingly not communicating with each other. They also reported inconsistency in care/care plans, unmet expectations, lack of transparency, and a desire for their expertise to be taken seriously.

Parents of children with medical complexity are an important part of the care team and can raise awareness of safety concerns. This study included parents of children with medical complexity who had reported safety concerns to members of their child's healthcare team. Parents whose concerns were validated and addressed felt increased trust in the team and hospital, whereas those whose concerns were invalidated or ignored felt disrespected and judged.

Children with serious medical conditions are vulnerable to medical errors. This prospective study examined safety reporting behaviors among parents of children with medical complexity and hospital staff caring for these patients in one tertiary children’s hospital. Findings indicate that parents frequently identify medical errors or quality issues, despite not being routinely advised on how to report safety concerns.

Patient and family engagement in safety efforts is supported in research but patients and clinicians still experience barriers in providing and accepting feedback. In this study, parents and caregivers of medically complex children reported uncertainty about whether and to whom to report concerns. Other themes included misalignment of staff and parent expectations of care and staff and leadership buy-in on the value of parent engagement.

Handoffs between inpatient care settings represent a vulnerable time for patients. This qualitative study explores how team cognition occurs during care transitions and interprofessional handoffs between inpatient settings and the influence of sociotechnical systems, such as communication workflows or electronic heath record-based interfaces) influence team cognition. Participants highlighted how interprofessional handoffs can both enhance (e.g., information exchange) and hinder (e.g., logistic challenges and imprecise communication) team cognition.

Stewardship interventions seek to optimize use of healthcare services, such as diagnostic tests or antibiotics. This article reports findings from a 14-site multidisciplinary collaborative evaluating pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) blood culture practices before and after implementation of a diagnostic stewardship intervention. Researchers found that rates of blood cultures, broad-spectrum antibiotic use, and central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) were reduced postintervention.

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.

Care transitions can increase the risk of patient safety events. Using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model, this study explored care transitions between operating rooms and inpatient critical care units and the importance of articulation work (i.e., preparation and follow-up activities related to transitions) to ensure safe transitions.

Shared mental models contribute to effective team collaboration and communication. Based on interviews and thematic analysis, the authors explored mental models between the emergency department (ED) and skilled nursing facility (SNF). The authors found that these healthcare professionals had misaligned mental models regarding communication during care transitions and healthcare setting capability, and that these misalignments led to consequences for patients, professionals, and the organization.

… by practitioners, researchers, and others. … Holden RJ, Carayon P. SEIPS 101 and seven simple SEIPS tools. BMJ Qual …

Preventable harm, such as diagnostic and medication errors, threaten patient safety in ambulatory care settings. This article discusses the scientific, practice, policy, and patient/family milestones necessary to accelerate progress in reducing preventable harm among outpatients and advance ambulatory safety. The authors recommend numerous key milestones, including improving measurement methods, routine monitoring of safety for improvement and learning, leveraging patient engagement, and a national patient safety center to coordinate and lead ambulatory safety efforts.   

Care transitions increase the risk of patient safety events, and pediatric patients are particularly vulnerable. This study used the Systems Engineer Initiative for Patient Safety approach to analyze care transitions, identify system barriers and solutions to guide efforts towards improving care transitions. Nine dimensions of system barriers and facilities in care transitions were identified: anticipation; ED decision making; interacting with family; physical environment; role ambiguity; staffing/resources; team cognition; technology, and; characteristics of trauma care.  Understanding these barriers and facilitators can guide future endeavors to improve care transitions.

This narrative review describes the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) and SEIPS 2.0 models, which provide a framework for integrating human factors and ergonomics into healthcare quality and patient safety improvements. The authors propose a SEIPS 3.0 model which would include the patient journey, defined by the authors as “the spatio-temporal distribution of patients interactions with multiple care settings over time.”

After a cluster of perinatal deaths was identified in 2015, the authors assessed 15-years of routinely collected observational data from 7 different sources (administrative, patient complaint and legal data) preceding the cluster to determine whether the incidents could have been predicted and prevented. The extent of clinical activity along with direct-to-service patient complaints were found to be the more promising for purposes of potential predictive signals. The authors suggest that use of some routinely collected data of these types show promise; however, further work needs to be done on specificity and sensitivity of the data and to gain access to comparator data is needed.

… improving physician satisfaction with the technology. … Carayon P, Hoonakker P, Hundt AS, et al. Application of human …

Patient acuity and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration contribute to patient safety issues in trauma care. This qualitative study explored perceptions of handoff safety in pediatric trauma patients and found a high potential for information loss due to the rapidity of handoffs and the multiple disciplines involved.

Preventing health care–associated infections remains a patient safety priority. This multisite study compared rates of central line–associated bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia before and after implementation of a multifaceted intervention. Investigators adopted the comprehensive unit-based safety program, which emphasizes safety culture and includes staff education, identification of safety risks, leadership engagement, and team training. Central line–associated bloodstream infections and surgical site infections initially declined, but rates returned to baseline in the third year. They were unable to measure differences in ventilator-associated pneumonia rates due to a change in the definition. These results demonstrate the challenge of implementing and sustaining evidence-based safety practices in real-world clinical settings. A past PSNet interview discussed infection prevention and patient safety.

System and process weaknesses can hinder safe patient care. This commentary raises awareness of human factors engineering as a key opportunity for enhancing patient safety. The authors provide recommendations to drive adoption and spread of human factors strategies through targeted education, clinician–engineer partnerships, and coordinated improvement efforts.