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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 259 Results
Perspective on Safety December 14, 2022

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 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.

Adapa K, Ivester T, Shea CM, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2022;48:642-652.
Tiered huddle systems (THS) include staff at all levels of the organization- frontline healthcare workers, managers, directors, and executives- and have been shown to increase adverse event reporting and improve safety culture. This US health system implemented a three-level THS in hospital and ambulatory settings to increase event reporting. Based on an interrupted time series analysis, reporting increased for total safety events, including near misses.
Rogers JE, Hilgers TR, Keebler JR, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2022;48:612-616.
Patient safety investigations hinge on the expertise and experiences of the investigator. This commentary discusses the ways in which cognitive biases can impact patient safety investigations and identifies potential mitigation strategies to improve decision-making processes.
Wylie JA, Kong L, Barth RJ. Ann Surg. 2022;276:e192-e198.
“Opioid never event” (ONE) is a proposed classification to describe dependence or overdose among opioid-naïve patients prescribed opioids at hospital discharge. Based on a retrospective review of medical records of patients at one academic medical center, researchers estimated that the ONE affected approximately 2 per 1,000 opioid-naïve surgical patients and persistent opioid use 90 to 360 days after surgery was present in 45% of patients with ONEs.
Harris CK, Chen Y, Yarsky B, et al. Acad Pathol. 2022;9:100049.
Physicians, including resident physicians, report safety events at lower rates than nurses and other staff. This study analyzed adverse event and near miss reporting by residents in one American hospital. Although pathology residents accounted for more than 5% of residents in the hospital, they only accounted for 0.5% of all reports.
Arkin L, Schuermann A, Penoyer D, et al. J Nurs Care Qual. 2022;37:319-326.
Nurses are responsible for several steps in the medication-use process, including preparation, administration, and monitoring of most medications. This study queried nurses working at a 10-hospital system in the southeastern United States about their attitudes, beliefs, and skills surrounding medication safety and error reporting. Survey responses indicate that nurses felt comfortable completing an incident report regarding an error and disclosing the error to another health care provider. There was some ambiguity around rating the severity of hypothetical errors.
Hurley VB, Boxley C, Sloss EA, et al. J Patient Saf Risk Manag. 2022;27:181-187.
Research has shown wide variation in error reporting by profession, with nurses reporting substantially more often than physicians. This study explored not only report rates by profession, but also across departments and event types. Results indicate physicians and technicians are more likely to report errors from across departmental boundaries , while nurses and physicians report a wider variety of error types.
Halvorson EE, Thurtle DP, Easter A, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:e928-e933.
Voluntary event reporting (VER) systems are required in most hospitals, but their effectiveness is limited if adverse events (AE) go unreported. In this study, researchers compared rates of AE submitted to the VER against those identified using the Global Assessment of Pediatric Patient Safety (GAPPS) trigger tool to identify disparities based on patient characteristics (i.e., weight, race, English proficiency). The GAPPS tool identified 37 AE in patients with limited English proficiency; none of these were reported to the VER system, suggesting a systematic underreporting of AE in this population.
Samal L, Khasnabish S, Foskett C, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:611-616.
Adverse events can be identified through multiple methods, including trigger tools and voluntary reporting systems. In this comparison study, the Global Trigger Tool identified 79 AE in 88 oncology patients, compared to 21 in the voluntary reporting system; only two AE were identified by both. Results indicate multiple sources should be used to detect AE.
Gong Y. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022;291:133-150.
Reporting incidents and errors is a cornerstone of patient safety improvement efforts, but challenges remain, including low quality of reports and low rates of reporting. This article discusses the technological challenges of incident reporting and offers recommendations to improve usability in future reporting systems.
Isaksson S, Schwarz A, Rusner M, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:325-330.
Organizations may employ one or more methods for identifying and examining near misses and preventable adverse events, including structured record review, web-based incident reporting systems, and daily safety briefings. Using each of the three methods, this study identified the number and types of near misses and adverse events. Results indicate that each method identifies different numbers and types of adverse events, suggesting a multi-focal approach to adverse event data collection may more effectively inform organizations. 
Falcone ML, Van Stee SK, Tokac U, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:e727-e740.
Adverse event reporting is foundational to improving patient safety, but many events go unreported. This review identified four key priorities in increasing adverse event reporting: understanding and reducing barriers; improving perceptions of adverse event reporting within healthcare hierarchies; improving organizational culture; and improving outcomes measurement.

J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2022;66(2):165-309.

Improving patient safety related to radiology and radiation oncology is an ongoing priority. This special issue explores themes related to radiology and radiation oncology, including monitoring and improving quality of care, promoting a culture of safety, and measuring, reporting, and learning from errors.
Dennison S, Freeman M, Giannotti N, et al. Nurse Educ. 2022;47:202-207.
Reporting medication errors and near misses should be taught to prelicensure nursing students but is not always included in nursing programs. This quality improvement project focused on the near-miss medication error reporting by student nurses. The authors found that dosing errors were 81% of the incidents, but there were multiple contributing factors including communication, competency and education, environmental and human limitations, and policies and procedures. The findings can be helpful to other nursing programs to refocus education on medication errors to areas were students have problems.
Cook-Richardson S, Addo A, Kim P, et al. J Surg Res. 2022;274:136-144.
Studies have shown that physicians are less likely to report errors and adverse events when compared to other clinicians. To increase the number of self-reports by surgeons, this hospital implemented a program of financial incentives. The incentive program led to an increase in reporting by physicians and physician assistants.
Hatfield M, Ciaburri R, Shaikh H, et al. Hosp Pediatr. 2022;12:181-190.
Workplace violence in health care settings can adversely affect the safety of healthcare workers and patients. Baseline responses from 309 pediatric physicians, nurses, and residents at one hospital revealed that the majority have received verbal threats from patients or family members. Offensive behavior from patients or family members was commonly based on provider age, gender, race/ethnicity, or appearance. After an interprofessional training intervention focused on addressing and reporting mistreatment, providers reported increased reporting knowledge, self-efficacy, and reporting behaviors.
Eiding H, Røise O, Kongsgaard UE. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:e315-e319.
Reporting patient safety incidents is essential to improving patient safety. This study compared the number of self-reported (to the study team) safety incidents during interhospital transport and the number of incidents submitted to the hospital’s reporting system. Nearly half of all patient transports had at least one self-reported incident; however, only 1% of incidents were reported to the hospital’s electronic reporting system.
Höcherl A, Lüttel D, Schütze D, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:e85-e91.
Critical incident reporting systems (CIRS) are used to improve learning and patient safety. The aim of this study was to support future implementation of CIRS in primary care by discussing types of incidents that should be reported; who can report incidents (e.g., nurses, physicians, patients); whether reporting is mandatory or voluntary or both depending on incident severity; local versus central analysis; barriers and methods to overcome them; and motivation for reporting.

Murphy DR, Savoy A, Satterly T, et al. BMJ Health Care Inform. Epub 2021 Oct 8.

Dashboards can provide real-time quality and safety data to frontline providers. This systematic review found limited information on the direct impact of patient safety dashboards on reducing patient safety events. The authors also note that dashboard design processes are rarely based on informatics or human factors principles, which may impede implementation and use.