“Safety cases” are used in healthcare and other industries to communicate the safety of a product, system, or service. In this study, researchers use the “safety case” approach to evaluate the safety of the Safer Clinical Systems program, which is designed to improve the safety and reliability of clinical pathways.  

Clinical decision support (CDS) systems were developed to support safe medication ordering, alerting prescribers to potential unsafe interactions such as drug-drug, drug-allergy, and dosing errors. This study uses a sociotechnical framework to understand the relationship between primary care prescribers’ safety work and CDS. Prescribers described the usefulness of CDS but also noted alert fatigue.

… change throughout the system. … Martin G, Stanford S, Dixon-Woods M. A decade after Francis: is the NHS safer and more …

Previous research found that the pharmacist-led IT-based intervention to reduce clinically important medication errors (PINCER) can reduce prescription and medication monitoring errors. This qualitative study explored patients’ perceived acceptability of the PINCER intervention in primary care. Overall perceptions were positive, but participants noted that PINCER acceptability can be improved through enhanced patient-pharmacist relationships, consistent delivery of PINCER-related care, and synchronization of medication reviews with prescription renewals.

Children with complex medical needs are vulnerable to patient safety threats. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of parents with children living at home with a central venous access device (CVAD). Parents highlight the persistent fear of central line-associated blood stream infections as well as the importance of maintaining a sense of normalcy for their children.

… and its role in the “ real world ”. … Cribb A, O'Hara JK, Waring J. Improving responses to safety incidents: we need to …

… whether an incident is considered a voiceable concern. … Dixon-Woods M, Aveling EL, Campbell A, et al. What counts as a …

… can lead to organizational failures. … Martin GP, Chew S, Dixon-Woods M. Why do systems for responding to concerns and …

… can motivate and support speaking up behaviors. … Wu F, Dixon-Woods M, Aveling EL, et al. The role of the informal and …

Transitions of care represent a vulnerable time for patients. This survey found that safety in mental healthcare transitions (hospital to community) is perceived differently by patients, families, and healthcare professionals. While clinical indicators (e.g., suicide, self-harm, and risk of adverse drug events) are important, patients and families also highlighted the social elements of transitional safety (e.g., loneliness, emotional readiness for change).

Health information technology has the potential to improve patient safety in both inpatient and outpatient settings. This systematic review explored the effect of technology networks across health systems (e.g., linking patient records across different organizations) on care coordination and medication reconciliation for older adults living at home. The authors identified several barriers to use of such networks but did not identify robust evidence on their association with safety-related outcomes.

Maternal harm is a sentinel event and improving maternal safety is receiving increased attention in both policy and clinical settings. The researchers used qualitative methods to generate a new plain language framework identifying safe behaviors and practices in inpatient maternity units. Several synergistic features were identified including a commitment to safety culture; technical competence; teamwork, cooperation, and positive working relationships.  

… shutdown implemented to reduce spread of the virus. … Carr S. Missed and delayed diagnoses of non-COVID …

This review synthesized research exploring how operational failures (e.g., distractions, situational constraints) in primary care affect the work of primary care physicians. The literature suggests that operational failures are common, and the gap between what physicians perceive that they should be doing and what they were doing (“work-as-imagined” vs, “work-as-done”) is largely attributed to operational failures over which the primary care physicians had limited control. The authors suggest that future research focus on which operational failures have the highest impact in primary care settings in order to prioritize areas for targeted improvement.

After findings of gross negligence, the National Health Service (NHS) introduced ‘Freedom to Speak Up Guardians’ to lead safety culture change with the ultimate goal that speaking up about safety issues becomes the norm. The authors used semi-structured interviews with 51 individuals (e.g., Guardians, clinicians, policymakers/regulators, etc.) to describe the rollout of the Guardians. These interviews revealed that the role of the Guardians is rich in potential but that the initial narrow role of addressing only quality and safety concerns was not consistent with the myriad of complex issues brought to them and may indicate the need to expand the role definition.

This study reviewed incident reports involving older adult patient transitions in geriatrics, cardiology, orthopedics and stroke to identify the types of transitions involved and whether reports included any evidence of individual or organizational learning.   Half of all incident reports involved interunit/department/team transfers and the majority (69%) of incidents were related to pressure injuries, falls, medication, and documentation errors. Few incident reports referenced individual or organizational learning (e.g., team discussions, root cause analysis) to inform practice or policy changes. A prior WebM&M describes a medication error occurring during an intrahospital transfer between the ICU and interventional radiology.  

This study reports the results of a survey measuring patients' experience of their own safety during care transitions. The survey data were perceived to be useful to physicians and hospital staff to identify potential safety risks and could be used to inform changes to improve care.

… PSNet interview featured the study's senior author, Mary Dixon-Woods. …

Engaging patients effectively to promote safety is considered a best practice and is endorsed by organizations such as The Joint Commission. Yet, how patients perceive the responsibility for achieving safety remains poorly understood. Investigators conducted semistructured interviews with 28 patients who were discharged from the hospital to better understand how they attribute responsibility for their safety in the health care setting. Direct responses revealed that patients consider health care professionals as being primarily responsible for patient safety but that patients also perceive themselves as playing a part. Narrative responses illustrated why professionals or patients might be responsible and in what context or situation one group might bear more responsibility than another. A past Annual Perspective discussed patient engagement in safety.

Disruptive and unprofessional behaviors are known threats to safety culture and contribute to burnout among health professionals. In response to an episode of serious misconduct by a clinician, an academic hospital implemented a structured effort to address disruptive behavior by developing mechanisms for frontline staff to voice their concerns. This article reports on the development and implementation of the effort, which focused on addressing longstanding aspects of institutional culture that were perceived as tolerating—and providing tacit endorsement of—prominent leaders who engaged in disruptive behavior.