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The PSNet Collection: All Content

The AHRQ PSNet Collection comprises an extensive selection of resources relevant to the patient safety community. These resources come in a variety of formats, including literature, research, tools, and Web sites. Resources are identified using the National Library of Medicine’s Medline database, various news and content aggregators, and the expertise of the AHRQ PSNet editorial and technical teams.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 59 Results
Hose B-Z, Carayon P, Hoonakker PLT, et al. Appl Ergon. 2023;113:104105.
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.
Perspective on Safety December 14, 2022

This piece discusses resilient healthcare and the Safety-I and Safety-II approaches to patient safety.

This piece discusses resilient healthcare and the Safety-I and Safety-II approaches to patient safety.

Ellen Deutsch photograph

Ellen Deutsch, MD, MS, FACS, FAAP, FSSH, CPPS is a Medical Officer in the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Deutsch is a pediatric otolaryngologist and has vast experience in simulation and resilience engineering. We spoke with her about resilient healthcare and how resilient engineering principles are applied to improve patient safety.

Perspective on Safety December 14, 2022

This collaborative piece with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services discusses the current state of patient safety measurement, advancements in measuring patient safety, and explores future directions.

This collaborative piece with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services discusses the current state of patient safety measurement, advancements in measuring patient safety, and explores future directions.

Michelle Schreiber photograph

We spoke to Dr. Michelle Schreiber about measuring patient safety, the CMS National Quality Strategy, and the future of measurement. Michelle Schreiber, MD, is the Deputy Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and the Director of the Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Perspective on Safety November 16, 2022

Human factors engineering or ergonomics (HFE) is a scientific discipline broadly focused on interactions among humans and other elements of a system.

Human factors engineering or ergonomics (HFE) is a scientific discipline broadly focused on interactions among humans and other elements of a system.

Michelle Schreiber photograph

We spoke to Dr. Michelle Schreiber about measuring patient safety, the CMS National Quality Strategy, and the future of measurement. Michelle Schreiber, MD, is the Deputy Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and the Director of the Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Perspective on Safety September 28, 2022

Special thanks to Freya Spielberg, MD, MPH, Founder and CEO of Urgent Wellness LLC in Washington, DC; and Jack Westfall, MD, MPH, Director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, for their thoughtful interviews on the topic of Primary Care and Patient Safety, which helped lay the groundwork for this Perspective.

Special thanks to Freya Spielberg, MD, MPH, Founder and CEO of Urgent Wellness LLC in Washington, DC; and Jack Westfall, MD, MPH, Director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, for their thoughtful interviews on the topic of Primary Care and Patient Safety, which helped lay the groundwork for this Perspective.

Freya Spielberg

Freya Spielberg MD, MPH, is the Founder and CEO of Urgent Wellness LLC, a social enterprise dedicated to improving the health of Individuals living in low-income housing in Washington, DC. Previously, as an Associate Professor at George Washington University, and at the University of Texas Dell Medical School, and School of Public Health, she developed a curriculum in Community Oriented Quality Improvement, to train the next generation of healthcare providers how to integrate population health into primary care to achieve the quintuple aim of better health outcomes, better patient experience, better provider experience, lower health care costs, and decreased health disparities. We spoke with her about her ongoing work in low-income communities to improve access to primary care and its impact on patient safety.

Perspective on Safety August 5, 2022

This piece focuses on the emergence and use of digital applications (apps), app-based products and devices for healthcare, and the implications for patient safety.

This piece focuses on the emergence and use of digital applications (apps), app-based products and devices for healthcare, and the implications for patient safety.

Francoise A. Marvel

Francoise A. Marvel, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine within the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, codirector of the Johns Hopkins Digital Health Innovation Lab, and the chief executive officer (CEO) and cofounder of Corrie Health. We spoke with her about the emergence of application-based tools used for healthcare and the patient safety issues surrounding the use of such tools.

Perspective on Safety August 5, 2022
… as the only option for ambulatory care for many clinical (e.g., rural) sites and for various outpatient specialties. 8 … for Patient Safety Research and Practice Boston, MA … Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD … Senior Researcher American Institutes for …

The focus on patient safety in the ambulatory setting was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and appropriately shifting priorities to responding to the pandemic. This piece explores some of the core themes of patient safety in the ambulatory setting, including diagnostic safety and diagnostic errors. Ways to enhance patient safety in the ambulatory care setting and next steps in ambulatory care safety are addressed. 

Wooldridge AR, Carayon P, Hoonakker PLT, et al. Hum Factors. 2022;Epub Jun 5.
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.
Perspective on Safety May 16, 2022
… of Clinical and Operational Research ESO Austin, TX … Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD … Researcher AIR Crystal City, VA … Paul …

This piece focuses on measuring and monitoring patient safety in the prehospital setting.

Remle P. Crowe

Remle Crowe, PhD, NREMT, is the Director of Clinical and Operational Research at ESO. In her professional role, she provides strategic direction for the research mission of the organization, including oversight of a warehouse research data set of de-identified records (the ESO Data Collaborative). We spoke with her about how data is being used in the prehospital setting to improve patient safety.

Salwei ME, Hoonakker PLT, Carayon P, et al. Hum Factors. 2022;Epub Apr 4.
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.
Perspective on Safety April 27, 2022

This piece discusses the role that media plays in affecting patient safety.

This piece discusses the role that media plays in affecting patient safety.

Michael L. Millenson is the President of Health Quality Advisors LLC, author of the critically acclaimed book Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age, and an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He serves on the Board of Directors for Project Patient Care, and earlier in his career he was a healthcare reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he was nominated three times for a Pulitzer Prize. We spoke with him about how patient safety efforts are shaped by the media and how the role of media has changed since our original discussion on the role of media in patient safety (published in October of 2009 (https://psnet.ahrq.gov/perspective/conversation-charles-ornstein; https://psnet.ahrq.gov/perspective/media-essential-if-sometimes-arbitrary-promoter-patient-safety)).

Perspective on Safety March 31, 2022
… drug alone has the potential to directly cause an ADE (e.g., benzodiazepines are PIMs for older adults and can … Researcher American Institutes for Research Columbia, MD … Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD … Researcher American Institutes for …

Errors in medication management and administration are major threats to patient safety. This piece explores issues with opioid and nursing-sensitive medication safety as well as medication safety in older adults. Future research directions in medication safety are also discussed.

Perspective on Safety March 31, 2022
… Researcher American Institutes for Research Columbia, MD … Sarah E. Mossburg, RN, PhD … Researcher American Institutes for Research Crystal City, VA … Anita Makkenchery, MPH, PMP … Researcher American Institutes for …

A psychologically safe environment for healthcare teams is desirable for optimal team performance, team member well-being, and favorable patient safety outcomes. This piece explores facilitators of and barriers to psychological safety across healthcare settings. Future research directions examining psychological safety in healthcare are discussed.

Werner NE, Rutkowski RA, Krause S, et al. Appl Ergon. 2021;96:103509.
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.
Singh H, Carayon P. JAMA. 2020;324:2481-2482.
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.   
Wooldridge AR, Carayon P, Hoonakker P, et al. App Ergon. 2020;85:103059.
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.
Carayon P, Wooldridge AR, Hoonakker P, et al. App Ergon. 2020;84:103033.
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.”