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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 591 Results
Solares NP, Calero P, Connelly CD. J Nurs Care Qual. 2023;38:100-106.
Falls in inpatient healthcare settings are a common patient safety event. This study including 201 older inpatient adults evaluated the relationship between the Johns Hopkins Fall Risk score and patient perceptions of fall risk. Researchers found that the greater the patient’s confidence in their ability to perform a high fall-risk behavior, the lower the fall-risk score.
Holland R, Bond CM, Alldred DP, et al. BMJ. 2023;380:e071883.
Careful medication management in long-term care residents is associated with improved hospital readmission rates and reduced fall rates. In the UK, pharmacist independent prescribers (PIP) can initiate, change, or monitor medications, and this cluster randomized controlled trial evaluated the effect of PIPs on fall rates. After six months of PIP involvement, fall rates (the primary outcome) were not statistically different than the usual care group, although drug burden was reduced.
Lindberg C, Fock J, Nilsen P, et al. Scand J Caring Sci. 2022.
Providing in-home care for home-dwelling adults presents unique patient safety challenges. This qualitative study with 13 registered nurses in Sweden explored how nurses ensure safe home health care among home-dwelling older patients. Findings highlight the importance of continuity of care, trust between patients, caregivers, and nurses, and adapting safety requirements to meet environmental conditions and maintain a sense of home.
Engle RL, Gillespie C, Clark VA, et al. J Gerontol Nurs. 2023;49:13-17.
Nurses’ willingness to speak up about resident safety concerns varies based on anticipated leadership response and support. Clinical and non-clinical staff at six Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) nursing homes with diverse safety climate ratings (high, medium, low) were interviewed to understand the association between resident safety and safety climate. Staff at high safety climate facilities described open communication and leadership responsiveness as contributors to a strong safety climate and willingness to speak up.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. January 24, 2023.

Workplace safety became more apparent during the COVID pandemic as an essential component to support effective and safe care provision. This session introduced the AHRQ Workplace Safety Supplemental Item Set for use with the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) Nursing Home Survey that examines staff perceptions of workplace safety. Background on the importance of workplace safety in nursing homes, results from a pilot test in 48 nursing homes, and one organization’s experience with the survey were shared.
St Clair B, Jorgensen M, Nguyen A, et al. Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2022;Epub Dec 20.
Older adults in long-term care settings can be vulnerable to patient safety incidents. This scoping review of 46 articles identified several gaps in the research on adverse events in long-term care and nursing home settings, including the absence of resident perspectives regarding safety and the role of interpersonal and environmental factors on the incidence of adverse events.

Hare R, Tyler ER, Tapia A, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; January 2023. AHRQ Publication No. 23-0018.

The AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™(SOPS®) Nursing Home Survey assesses safety culture and resident safety in nursing homes. This report summarizes survey data from 3,224 staff working in 62 nursing homes. Respondents reported positive perceptions about both resident safety overall and feedback and communication regarding safety incidents. Areas for improvement included sufficient staffing to handle the workload and maintain resident safety.

Grimm CA. Washington DC: Office of the Inspector General; Nov 2022. Report no. OEI-07-20-00500.

Misdiagnosis can result in inappropriate medication use. This report examined the overuse of antipsychotics in nursing homes and resident harms. These recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General include heightened evaluation and oversight of medication use and better documentation of diagnosis with medication orders as avenues for improvement.
Weaver SH, de Cordova PB, Ravichandran A, et al. J Nurs Care Qual. 2022;Epub Dec 7.
Nurse work environment has been linked to perceived safety culture and job satisfaction. This cross-sectional survey of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in New Jersey found lower job satisfaction and perceived patient safety culture among LPNs working in nursing homes compared to LPNs working in other settings.
Nilsson L, Lindblad M, Johansson N, et al. Int J Nurs Stud. 2022;138:104434.
Nurse-sensitive outcomes are important indicators of nursing safety. In this retrospective study of 600 patient records from ten Swedish home healthcare organizations, researchers found that 74% of patient safety incidents were classified as nursing-sensitive and that the majority of those events were preventable. The most common types of nursing-sensitive events were falls, pressure injuries, healthcare-associated infections, and incidents related to medication management.
Baluyot A, McNeill C, Wiers S. Patient Safety. 2022;4:18-25.
Transitions from hospital to skilled nursing facilities (SNF) remain a patient safety challenge. This quality improvement (QI) project included development of a structured handoff tool to decrease the wait time for receipt of controlled medications and intravenous (IV) antibiotics and time to medication administration. The project demonstrated significant improvements in both aims and can be replicated in other SNFs.
Świtalski J, Wnuk K, Tatara T, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19:15354.
Improving patient safety in long-term care facilities is an ongoing challenge. This systematic review identified three types of interventions that can improve safety in long-term care facilities – (1) promoting safety culture, (2) reducing occupational stress and burnout, and (3) increasing medication safety.
Sterling MR, Lau J, Rajan M, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022;Epub Dec 5.
Home healthcare is common among older adults, who are often vulnerable to patient safety events due to factors such as medical complexity. This cross-sectional study of 4,296 Medicare patients examined the relationship between receipt of home healthcare services, perceived gaps in care coordination, and preventable adverse outcomes. The researchers found that home healthcare was not associated with self-reported gaps in care coordination, but was associated with increases in self-reported preventable drug-drug interactions (but not ED visits or hospital admissions).
Bloomer A, Wally M, Bailey G, et al. Geriatr Orthop Surg Rehabil. 2022;13:215145932211256.
Opioid use by older adults increases the risk of falls. This study examined electronic health record data to determine the proportion of older adults presenting to the emergency room or urgent care due to a fall who receive an opioid prescription, particularly those with at least one risk factor for misuse. Nearly one third of patients received a prescription for an opioid and/or benzodiazepine, and 11% had at least one risk factor for misuse.
Svedahl ER, Pape K, Austad B, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2022;Epub Dec 15.
Inappropriate referrals and unnecessary hospital admissions are ongoing patient safety problems. This cohort study set in Norway examined the impact of emergency physician referral thresholds from out-of-hours services on patient outcomes.  
Sallevelt BTGM, Egberts TCG, Huibers CJA, et al. Drug Saf. 2022;45:1501-1516.
Adverse events, such as medication errors, are a major cause of hospital admissions. This retrospective study of a subset of OPERAM intervention patients who were readmitted with a potentially preventable drug-related admission (DRA) examined whether use of STOPP/START criteria during in-hospital medication review can identify medication errors prior to a potentially preventable DRA. Researchers found that medication errors identified at readmission could not be addressed by prior in-hospital medication reviews because the medication error occurred after the in-hospital review or because recommended medication regimen changes were not provided or not implemented.
Wallerstedt SM, Svensson SA, Lönnbro J, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e2236757.
Criteria, such as the Screening Tool of Older Persons' Prescriptions (STOPP)/Screening Tool to Alert to Right Treatment (START) criteria, are tools used by clinicians to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIM) and potential prescribing omissions (PPOs) among older adult patients. In this study, researchers evaluated three PIM/PPO criteria sets and found that all three performed poorly as diagnostic tools to identify inadequate drug treatment in older patients compared to counting the number of drugs on the patient’s medication list.
Thevelin S, Pétein C, Metry B, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2022;31:888-898.
Polypharmacy can place older adults at increased risk of adverse drug events. This mixed-methods study, embedded in the OPERAM trial, identified differences in perceived shared decision-making regarding medication changes between providers and older adult patients. Whereas clinicians reported high levels of shared decision-making, patients reported poor communication and paternalistic decision-making.
Farrell TW, Hung WW, Unroe KT, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022;70:3366-3377.
Research into the impact of racism on health outcomes has increased in recent years, but there has been less emphasis on ageism or the intersection of ageism and racism. This commentary highlights the ways racism (e.g., clinical algorithms), ageism (e.g., proposed measures to ration care) and the intersection of the two (increased morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 on older people of color) impacts health outcomes. Recommendations for current clinicians and health profession educators are provided.
Kim K-A, Lee J, Kim D, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22:1376.
Safety culture has been shown to be associated with nursing home quality indicators such as discharge to community and injuries related to falls and catheters. Numerous surveys exist to measure safety culture. This review identified seven measurement tools, and the most frequently used tool was the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire, and Modified Stanford Patient Safety Culture Survey Instrument were also used.