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 586 Results

Human factors and safety analysis methods used in the design and redesign of electronic medication management systems: a systematic review.

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Awad S, Amon K, Baillie A, et al. Int J Med Inform. 2023;172:105017.

Computerized provider order entry (CPOE), clinical decision support (CDS), and electronic medication management systems (EMMS) have increased efficiency and reduced prescribing errors, but poor design may introduce new safety hazards. Human factors and safety analysis methods can be used to increase the safety of new technologies, ideally before problems arise. This review identifies human factors and safety analysis methods applied to EMMS. Most methods focused on usability or design, and only one used a safety-oriented approach. Increased inclusion of human factors specialists could increase the use of safety-oriented methods of EMMS design.

Improving medication safety in a paediatric hospital: a mixed-methods evaluation of a newly implemented computerised provider order entry system.

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Liang MQ, Thibault M, Jouvet P, et al. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2023;30(1):e100622.

Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems are widely used and can help prevent medication administration errors. This mixed-methods study examined the impact of CPOE on medication safety in the pediatric department at one Canadian hospital. Researchers found that most errors occurred during the medication administration step rather than the prescribing step. The researchers also observed a non-statistically significant decrease in medication errors overall, which was primarily attributed to significant improvements in errors during order acknowledgement, transmission, and transcription.

Indication documentation and indication-based prescribing within electronic prescribing systems: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.

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Feather C, Appelbaum N, Darzi A, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2023;32:357–368.

Requiring a prescriber to include an indication for a medication can reduce the risk of wrong-patient orders and improve antimicrobial and opioid stewardship. This review identified 21 studies describing interventions to encourage prescribers to include indications for medications. In addition to patient safety benefits, several risks and drawbacks were uncovered, such as potential loss of patient privacy or alert fatigue.

Technology as a Tool for Improving Patient Safety

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Perspective on Safety March 29, 2023

In the past several decades, technological advances have opened new possibilities for improving patient safety. Using technology to digitize healthcare processes has the potential to increase standardization and efficiency of clinical workflows and to reduce errors and cost across all healthcare settings.¹ However, if technological approaches are designed or implemented poorly, the burden on clinicians can increase. For example, overburdened clinicians can experience alert fatigue and fail to respond to notifications. This can lead to more medical errors.

Diagnostic stewardship to prevent diagnostic error.

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Morgan DJ, Malani PN, Diekema DJ. JAMA. 2023;329:1255-1256.

The effective use of resources through stewardship initiatives can support error reduction through focusing actions of care. This commentary discusses how diagnostic stewardship can enhance diagnostic testing behaviors across the diagnostic process.

Safety risks and workflow implications associated with nursing-related free-text communication orders.

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Staes CJ, Yusuf S, Hambly M, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2023;30:828-837.

Previous research has identified errors related to use of free-text fields in the electronic health record (EHR) systems. In this study, researchers examined potential safety hazards within free-text EHR communication orders sent to or from nurses. Analyses indicated that free-text orders did include symbols and abbreviations discouraged by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and that future research should explore issues stemming from workarounds and EHR design.

The Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

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Leapfrog Group.

This website offers resources related to the Leapfrog Hospital Survey investigating hospitals' progress in implementing specific patient safety practices. Updates to the survey include increased time allotted to complete computerized provider order entry evaluation, staffing of critical care physicians on intensive care units, and use of tools to measure safety culture. Reports discussing the results are segmented into specific areas of focus such as health care-associated infections and medication errors. The 2023 survey session opens April 1, 2023.

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Value and Patient Safety

March 8, 2023

Value as an element of patient safety is emerging as an approach to prioritize and evaluate improvement actions. This library highlights resources that explore the business case for cost effective, efficient and impactful efforts to reduce medical errors.

Examining medication ordering errors using AHRQ Network of Patient Safety Databases.

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Grauer A, Rosen A, Applebaum JR, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2023;30:838-845.

Medication errors can happen at any step along the medication pathway, from ordering to administration. This study focuses on ordering errors reported to the AHRQ Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD) from 2010 to 2020. The most common categories of ordering errors were incorrect dose, incorrect medication, and incorrect duration; nearly 80% of errors were definitely or likely preventable.

Overdose of Gabapentin and Oxycodone in a Patient with End-Stage Renal Disease: A Case for Appropriate Interruptive Drug-Disease Alerts.

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WebM&M Case February 1, 2023

A 38-year-old man with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on chronic hemodialysis was admitted for nonhealing, infected lower leg wounds and underwent a below-knee amputation. He suffered from postoperative pain at the operative stump and was treated for four days with regional nerve blocks, as well as gabapentin, intermittent intravenous hydromorphone (which was transitioned to oral oxycodone) and oral hydromorphone.

Improving administration and documentation of enteral nutrition support therapy in a Veteran Affairs health care system: use of medication administration record and bar code scanning technology.

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Chew MM, Rivas S, Chesser M, et al. J Patient Saf. 2023;19:23-28.

Provision of enteral nutrition (EN) is a specialized process requiring careful interdisciplinary teamwork. After discovering significant issues with ordering, administration, and documentation of EN, this health system updated its workflows to improve safety. EN therapies were added to the electronic medication administration record (MAR) and the barcoding system was updated. After one year, all EN orders were barcode scanned and nearly all were documented as given or included a reason why they were not given.

Short- and long-term effects of an electronic medication management system on paediatric prescribing errors.

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Westbrook JI, Li L, Raban MZ, et al. NPJ Digit Med. 2022;5:179.

Pediatric patients are particularly vulnerable to medication errors. This cluster randomized controlled trial examined the short- and long-term impacts of an electronic medication management (eMM) system implemented at one pediatric referral hospital in Australia. Findings suggest that eMM implementation did not reduce medication errors in the first 70 days of use, but researchers observed a decrease in medication errors one year after implementation, suggesting long-term benefits.

Medication safety incidents associated with the remote delivery of primary care: a rapid review.

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Gleeson LL, Clyne B, Barlow JW, et al. Int J Pharm Pract. 2023;30:495-506.

Remote delivery of care, such as telehealth and e-prescribing, increased sharply at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This rapid review was conducted to determine the types and frequency of medication safety incidents associated with remote delivery of primary care prior to the pandemic. Fifteen articles were identified covering medication safety and e-prescribing; none of these studies associated medication safety and telehealth.

Scaling-up a pharmacist-led information technology intervention (PINCER) to reduce hazardous prescribing in general practices: multiple interrupted time series study.

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Rodgers S, Taylor AC, Roberts SA, et al. PLoS Med. 2022;19:e1004133.

Previous research found that a pharmacist-led information technology intervention (PINCER) reduced dangerous prescribing (i.e., medication monitoring and drug-disease errors) among a subset of primary care practices in the United Kingdom (UK). This longitudinal analysis examined the impact of the PINCER intervention after implementation across a large proportion of general practices in one region in the UK. Researchers found the PINCER intervention decreased dangerous prescribing by 17% and 15% at 6-month and 12-month follow-ups, particularly among dangerous prescribing related to gastrointestinal bleeding.

Medication errors: the year in review: January through December 2021.

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Pharmacy Practice News Special Edition. December 13, 2022: 43-54.

Medication errors continue to occur despite long-standing efforts to reduce them. This article summarizes types of errors submitted to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices reporting program in 2021. The piece discusses the medications involved, recommendations for improvement, and technologies to be employed to minimize error occurrence.

Electronic prescribing systems in hospitals to improve medication safety: a multi-methods research programme.

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Sheikh A, Coleman JJ, Chuter A, et al. Programme Grants Appl Res. 2022;10:1-196.

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.

Discontinuation of outpatient medications: implications for electronic messaging to pharmacies using CancelRx.

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Pitts S, Yang Y, Thomas BA, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022;29:2101-2104.

The CancelRx tool is designed to improve communication between electronic health record (EHR) systems and pharmacy dispensing software. However, interoperability issues can limit the tool’s usefulness and result in inadvertent dispensing of discontinued medications. This evaluation of discontinued medications at one health systems over a one-month period found that only one-third to one-half of discontinued medications were e-prescribed using the same EHR system and would result in a CancelRx message to the pharmacy; the remainder of discontinued medications were patient-reported or reconciled from outside sources.

Duplicate medication order errors: safety gaps and recommendations for improvement.

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Bocknek L, Kim T, Spaar P, et al. Patient Safety. 2022;4:39-47.

Duplicate medication orders, defined as orders for two or more identical medications or same therapeutic class, can result in serious complications if they reach the patient. This study examined the error type (same medication, therapeutic class, or order), when they were recognized, and factors contributing to the error. Importantly, of duplicate orders in the same therapeutic class, the three most common medications were anti-coagulants, a high-risk medication.

Effect of different interventions to help primary care clinicians avoid unsafe opioid prescribing in opioid-naive patients with acute noncancer pain: a cluster randomized clinical trial.

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Kraemer KL, Althouse AD, Salay M, et al. JAMA Health Forum. 2022;3:e222263.

Nudges (e.g., default order sets) in the electronic health record (EHR) have been shown to encourage safer prescribing of opioids in emergency departments. This study evaluated the effect of nudges to reduce opioid prescribing for opioid-naïve patients with acute pain. Primary care practices were cluster randomized to control, opioid justification in the EHR, peer comparison, or combined opioid justification and peer comparison groups. The three intervention groups showed reduced opioid prescribing compared to control.

Overriding drug-drug interaction alerts in clinical decision support systems: a scoping review.

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Villa Zapata L, Subbian V, Boyce RD, et al. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022;290:380-384.

Computerized decision support systems can alert clinicians to drug-drug interactions (DDIs), but the alert fatigue contributes to alert overrides. This scoping review includes 34 studies from the United States and international settings and identified a high prevalence of DDI alert overrides. The authors discuss the need for improved decision support systems to improve DDI alerts and actionable metrics to measure harms associated with alert overrides.

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