Patient suicide is a sentinel event, and suicide among veterans has gained attention. In this retrospective analysis of suicide-related events reported to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Center for Patient Safety between January 2018 and June 2022, researchers found that deficiencies in mental health treatment, communication challenges, and unsafe environments were the most common contributors to suicide-related events.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed healthcare delivery and exacerbated threats to patient safety. Using Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Center for Patient Safety data, this retrospective study characterized patient safety events related to COVID-19 occurring between March 2020 and February 2021. Delays in care and exposure to COVID-19 were the most common events and confusion over procedures, missed care, and failure to identify COVID-positive patients before exposures were the most common contributing factors.

Changes in healthcare delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in delays in care that can lead to patient harm. In this study using patient safety event data submitted to the VHA National Center of Patient Safety, researchers identified healthcare delays involving laboratory results, treatment and interventional procedures, and diagnosis.   

… themes of safety issues are described. … Charles MA, Yackel EE, Mills PD, et al. Veterans Health Administration response to …

… case and commentary discusses suicide after discharge. … Riblet NB, Varela M, Ashby W, et al. Spreading a strategy to …

Healthcare organizations use multiple proactive and reactive methods of investigating and preventing adverse events. This study combined proactive and reactive risk assessments into a Combined Proactive Risk Assessment (CPRA) to identify risks not detected by one method on its own. The four steps of CPRA are illustrated using the example of outpatient blood draws in the Veterans Health Administration.

Previous research has emphasized suicide prevention in inpatient mental health settings, but less is known about suicide in outpatient settings. Using longitudinal data from 2013 to 2017, this study found no relationship between overall quality of outpatient mental healthcare and suicide rates among patients treated by the Veterans Health Administration healthcare system.

Delays in diagnosis and treatment can lead to poor outcomes for patients. Researchers reviewed root cause analysis (RCA) reports to identify factors contributing to delays in diagnosis and treatment among surgical patients at the Veterans Health Administration. Of the 163 RCAs identified, 73% reflected delays in treatment, 15% reflected delays in diagnosis, and 12% reflected delays in surgery. Policies and processes (e.g., lack of standardized processes, procedures not followed correctly) was the largest contributing factor, followed by communication challenges, and equipment or supply issues.

… be measured to assess patient safety in mental health. … Riblet NB, Gottlieb DJ, Watts BV, et al. Is it time for the …

… and (4) the method for hemodialysis delivery. … Walton E,  Charles M, Morrish W, et al. Hemodialysis bleeding events …

… communication and coordination of care. … Soncrant C, Mills PD, Pendley Louis RP, et al. Review of reported adverse …

Researchers reviewed 15 years of root cause analysis reports of all instances of suicide and suicide attempts on Veterans Health Administration (VHA) grounds. Forty-seven suicides or suicide attempts were identified, and primary root causes included communication breakdown and a need for improved suicide interventions. The paper includes recommended actions to address the root causes of attempted and completed patient suicides.

… or hospitals not having opioid-related policies.  … Norris B, Soncrant C, Mills PD, et al. Root cause analysis of adverse events …

… monitoring, control of firearms, and close observation. … Mills PD, Soncrant C, Gunnar W. Retrospective analysis of reported …

Retained surgical items (RSI) are considered ‘never events’ but continue to occur. In this study, researchers compared the RSI rate in Veterans Health (VA) surgery programs with (n=46) and without (n=91) surgical count technology and analyzed the resulting root cause analyses (RCA) for these events. The RSI rate was significantly higher in for the programs with surgical count technology compared to the programs without (1/18,221 vs. 1/30,593). Analysis of RCAs found the majority of incidents (64%) involved human factors issues (e.g., staffing changes during shifts, staff fatigue), policy/procedure failures (e.g., failure to perform methodical wound sweep) or communication errors.

In this retrospective review of root cause analysis (RCA) reports of select gastrointestinal procedures, researchers identified 27 adverse events 30-month period. Nearly half (48%) of events caused major or catastrophic harm. The most frequently reported adverse events were attributable to human factors (22%), medication errors (22%) or retained items; retained items were associated with the most harm.

This retrospective cohort study used root cause analysis (RCA) to examine safety reports from emergency departments at Veterans Health Administration hospitals over a two-year period. Of the 144 cases identified, the majority involved delays in care (26%), elopements (15%), suicide attempts and deaths (10%), inappropriate discharges (10%) and errors following procedures (10%). RCA revealed that primary contributory factors leading to adverse events were knowledge/educational deficits (11%) and policies/procedures that were either inadequate (11%) or lacking standardization (10%).

Root cause analysis is a fundamental approach to understanding how failures occur, but some have questioned its effectiveness in health care. This review highlights alternative approaches to incident analysis that address some of the concerns with root cause analysis, such as time commitment and lack of follow up.

The authors describe the results of a survey of anesthesiology chiefs designed to understand their perceptions of the Veterans Health Administration efforts surrounding the lessons learned process for adverse events occurring in anesthesia. Of participants who had been aware of lessons learned, 90% shared them with staff and 75% described changing or reinforcing safety behaviors.

The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum both consider wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient surgeries to be never events. Despite improvement approaches ranging from the Universal Protocol to nonpayment for the procedures themselves and any consequent care, these serious surgical errors continue to occur. This study measured the incidence of incorrect surgeries in Veterans Health Administration medical centers from 2010 to 2017. Surgical patient safety events resulting in harm were rare and declined by more than two-thirds from 2000 to 2017. Dentistry, ophthalmology, and neurosurgery had the highest incidence of in–operating room adverse events. Root cause analysis revealed that 29% of events could have been prevented with a correctly performed time-out. A WebM&M commentary examined an incident involving a wrong-side surgery.