Handoffs and transitions of care represent a vulnerable time for patients as important information must be shared and understood by multiple people. This study focuses on postoperative nurse handoffs, specifically regarding situational awareness and anticipatory guidance, and the role artificial intelligence (AI) could play in improving handoffs. Five themes were uncovered, including the importance of situational awareness and associated barriers, how AI could address those barriers, and how AI could result in new/additional barriers.

Early recognition of warning signs of deterioration is key to activating the rapid response system (RRS) and prevention of serious adverse events. This review sought to understand how preparedness of ward-based nurses supports recognition of early warning signs and activation of RRS. Themes include knowledge of criteria to activate the RRS and deference to organizational hierarchy.

… and explore effects of teamwork on burnout. … Godby Vail S, Dierst-Davies R, Kogut D, et al. Teamwork is associated …

Medication errors in pediatric patients can have serious consequences. This systematic review identified three studies examining interventions to improve medication safety in pediatric inpatient settings. Although the three interventions – a mnemonic device, a checklist, and a specific prescribing round involving a clinical pharmacist and a doctor – reduced prescribing errors, the studies did not assess weight-based errors or demonstrate reductions in clinical harm.

Organizations are encouraged to proactively identify patient safety risks and learn from failures. This article describes validity testing of systems-thinking risk assessment (Net-HARMS) to identify risks associated with patient medication administration and an accident analysis method (AcciMap) to analyze a medication administration error.

Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) is an established medication error reduction mechanism. This review analyzed experiences in the United Kingdom to understand strengths and weaknesses in e-prescribing. The work concluded that e-prescribing did improve safety in the UK and that the implementation and use of the system was a complex endeavor. The effort produced an accompanying toolkit to assist organizations in e-prescribing system decision making.

Communication with patients and caregivers is important after a diagnostic error. Using a simulated case involving delayed diagnosis of breast cancer, this study compared how crowdsourced laypeople and patient advocates rate physician disclosure communication skills. Findings suggest that patient advocates rate communication skills more stringently than laypeople, but laypeople can correctly identify physicians with high and low communication skills.

Knowing a patient’s individual risk factors for developing cancer can assist patients and providers in deciding when to screen for cancers and can prevent both overtreatment and delays in care. This study compared patient-reported family history of cancer in the electronic health record (EHR) and family history collected using a focused questionnaire. Results showed inconsistencies between the two, especially for patients with more complicated family histories.

Morbidity and mortality conferences (MMC) serve as a way for health care teams to discuss adverse events and errors with the goal of improving patient safety. This article presents five recommendations to improve MMC: encourage culture change; allocate ample time for open communication to foster innovative thinking; take a global approach; learn from errors and near misses; and do not just talk the talk, but also walk the walk.

… practicing primary care physicians is needed. … Burke HB, King HB. Responses of physicians to an objective safety and …

… risk factors involved with medication ordering errors . … King CR, Abraham J, Fritz BA, et al. Predicting …

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.

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.

Patient misidentification can lead to serious patient safety risks. Researchers used patient safety reports and root cause analyses (RCA) to characterize patient misidentification events in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The incidence of patient misidentification in inpatient and outpatient settings was similar and most commonly attributed to the absence of two unique patient identifiers. The authors identified three strategies to mitigate misidentification based on high-reliability principles: (1) develop policies for patient identification throughout the continuum of care, (2) develop policies to report and monitor patient misidentification measures, and (3) apply quality and process improvement tools to patient identification emphasizing use by front line staff.  

Polypharmacy is one risk factor for medication errors in older adults. This study describes the implementation of a pharmacist-administered deprescribing program in a long-term care facility in Canada. Over a one-year period, residents were randomized to receive either a deprescribing-focused medication review by a pharmacist or usual care. The intervention resulted in fewer medications taken by residents the intervention group after 6 months. Most deprescribing recommendations reflected a lack of ongoing indication or a dosage that was too high.

To address a need for national guidance on pain management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, a panel including pain management experts from the military, Veterans Health Administration, and academia was convened. The proposed framework includes guidance for pain practitioners and institutions to balance risk mitigation for both providers and patients, staffing plans to prevent or minimize exposure of staff and patients, use of telehealth for pain management, conservation of resources, and access to pain management services. Any pain management plan must consider many facets including patients’ clinical circumstances and providers’ wellbeing.

Using a participatory action research approach, this study evaluated a smartphone app intended to empower surgical patients and caregivers to help optimize their care. Forty-two patients were enrolled in the study and they underwent a variety of different surgical procedures. Most patients felt that app was useful and informative (79%), was easy to use (74%) and helped participants to ask better questions (76%) and feel more involved in conversations about their care. However, almost half of participants (48%) were unsure about how the app could affect safety, citing that safety was the responsibility of the clinical staff alone rather than patients.