Shared situation awareness is shown to improve patient outcomes in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). This article outlines the process of designing communication and signage tools to maintain or improve situational awareness in anticipation of moving to a new clinical space. With the new tools in place in the new PICU, shared situation awareness for residents, nurses, and respiratory therapists improved.

Emergency room crowding is a persistent factor that degrades safety for patients of all ages. This collection provides background, best practices, and recommendations to reduce emergency department crowding and its negative impact on pediatric care. The publications examine factors that influence crowding and improvement at the input, departmental, and hospital/outpatient stages of emergency care.

Children with complex medical conditions are particularly vulnerable to medication errors. This article describes the development and implementation of a pharmacy-led medication rounding care model for children with medical complexity wherein clinicians and pharmacists conduct weekly reviews of all patient medications using a standardized checklist.

Language barriers can lead to diminished care and threaten patient safety. This retrospective study included patients with rapid response team (RRT) activation and compared disease severity and outcomes for patients whose primary language was Spanish versus English. Findings suggest that language barriers may contribute to delays in RRT activation and delays in care.

Alert fatigue occurs when healthcare workers become desensitized to alarms over time, especially when alarms tend to be clinically nonsignificant, and therefore, ignored or not responded to. This study reports on one health system’s redesign of cardiac monitoring structure to reduce alert fatigue. Through a four-phase quality improvement project, three hospitals were able to decrease alarms by 74-95% and sustained the results for 12 months.

Children with emergent care needs are often cared for in complex situations that can diminish safety. This joint policy statement updates preceding recommendations to enhance the safety of care to children presenting at the emergency department. It expands on the application of topics within a high-reliability framework focusing on leadership, managerial factors, and organizational factors that support safety culture and workforce empowerment to support safe emergency care for children.

Hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (VTE) continues to be a significant source of preventable patient harm. This study retrospectively examined patients admitted with VTE and found that only 15% received correct risk stratification and appropriate management and treatment. The case review found that patients were commonly incorrectly stratified, received incorrect pharmaceutical treatment, or inadequate application of mechanical prophylaxis (e.g., intermittent compression).

Fall prevention is a safety priority in hospital settings. This study found that Smart Socks – socks containing pressure sensors that detect when a patient is trying to stand up – reduced fall rates among patients at risk of falls in one hospital’s neurological and neurosurgical department. Over a 13-month period, investigators observed a decreased fall rate (0 per 1000 patient days) among patients wearing Smart Socks compared to prior to intervention implementation (4 per 1000 patient days).

Peer support programs are increasingly used to support clinicians involved in adverse events. This evaluation found that a structured peer support program for providers involved in obstetric adverse events can effectively support providers in short periods of time (for example, 92% of participants did not need follow-up after second peer support contact) and can be initiated with limited resources.

… patients had worse outcomes than non-Māori patients. … Moore MR, Mitchell SJ, Weller JM, et al. A retrospective audit of postoperative days alive and out of …

… deaths were due to mental health conditions. A substantial proportion of people with a pregnancy-related mental health cause of death had a history of depression or past/current substance use. …

… disabilities can improve outcomes. … Louch G, Albutt A, Harlow-Trigg J, et al. Exploring patient safety outcomes … with learning disabilities in acute hospital settings: a scoping review. BMJ Open. 2021;11(5):e047102. …

Patient suicide attempts or completions can have negative psychological impacts on the nurses involved. This mixed-methods study found a significant association between emotional distress and feeling alone with absenteeism and higher staff turnover. Healthcare organizations should develop support programs for second victims to increase resiliency and potentially decrease absenteeism and turnover.

… of the injury, and patient characteristics. … Schulz-Moore JS, Bismark M, Jenkinson C, et al. Assessing patients … injury reconciliation processes: item generation for a novel survey questionnaire. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. …

Recent duty hour reforms are intended to improve patient safety and resident well-being. This study explored whether resident performance declines as a function of consecutive overnight shifts, but results indicate no significant trend in overnight report discrepancies between the night float resident and the daytime attending.   

The use of PRN (“as needed”) medications is a common source of medication errors. The authors describe the implementation of staff education and a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) order set (with predefined PRN orders), which led to increased compliance with Joint Commission medication management standards. The related editorial discusses how investment in human factors and ergonomics can contribute to healthcare quality and safety improvements.