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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 4044 Results
Patient Safety Innovation May 31, 2023

Patient falls in hospitals are common and debilitating adverse events that persist despite decades of effort to minimize them. Improving communication across the assessing nurse, care team, patient, and patient’s most involved friends and family may strengthen fall prevention efforts. A team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, sought to develop a standardized fall prevention program that centered around improved communication and patient and family engagement.

Karlic KJ, Valley TS, Cagino LM, et al. Am J Med Qual. 2023;38:117-121.
Because patients discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) are at increased risk of readmission and post-ICU adverse events, some hospitals have opened post-ICU clinics. This article describes safety threats identified by post-ICU clinic staff. Medication errors and inadequate medical follow-up made up nearly half of identified safety threats. More than two-thirds were preventable or ameliorable.
Coghlan A, Turner S, Coverdale S. Intern Med J. 2023;53:550-558.
Use of abbreviations in electronic health records increases risk of misunderstandings, particularly between providers of different specialties. In this study, junior doctors and general practitioners were asked about their understanding of common, uncommon, and rare abbreviations used in hospital discharge notes. No abbreviation was interpreted in the same way by all respondents, and nearly all respondents left at least one abbreviation blank or responded that they didn't know.
Pugh S, Chan F, Han S, et al. J Nurs Adm. 2023;53:292-298.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted the delivery of nursing care. This retrospective analysis examined the impact of a bedside checklist and nursing-led intervention bundle (“Nursing Back to Basics” or NB2B bundle) among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at one academic hospital in New York City. The NB2B bundle, implemented with a bedside checklist, included five evidence-based interventions. Between March and April 2020, the NB2B intervention showed a 12% reduction in mortality due to COVID-19 compared with usual care.
Shahrestanaki SK, Rafii F, Najafi Ghezeljeh T, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:467.
Home care settings have unique patient safety challenges. This qualitative study including home care clinicians, inspectors, and family caregivers in Iran highlights that the healthcare team plays an important role in creating and promoting safe home care, including the use of individual risk assessments and mitigation of risk factors.
Kepner S, Bingman C, Jones RM. Patient Saf. 2023;Epub Apr 28.
Healthcare-associated infections remain a patient safety issue at long-term care facilities. Based on incident data from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS), this analysis found that healthcare-associated infections in long-term care settings increased by 12.5% between 2021 and 2022; over half of this increase is due to an increase in respiratory and gastrointestinal infections.
Fillo KT, Saunders K. Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, Department of Public Health. Boston, MA: Commonwealth of Massachusetts; 2023.
This reoccurring report compiles patient safety data collected by Massachusetts hospitals. The 2022 numbers document an increase in serious reportable events recorded in acute care hospitals, from 1430 the previous year to 1632. This presentation also includes events from ambulatory surgery centers. Older reports are also available.
Moran JM, Bazan JG, Dawes SL, et al. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2023;13:203-216.
Safety risks are present in oncology radiation therapy. This recommendation builds on existing intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) standards to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary engagement, training, and technology implementation to ensure high quality, safe IMRT is delivered to patients.

Covid Crisis Group. New York: Public Affairs; 2023. ISBN‏: ‎9781541703803.

The transfer of failure experiences to generate learning and improve service is a complicated responsibility. This book examines breakdowns in the US response to the COVID-19 epidemic to understand causes of the problems, in order to better prepare health care, government, and public health systems for future pandemics. It also discusses what successes were achieved and how to capitalize on those improvements.
Mortsiefer A, Löscher S, Pashutina Y, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6:e234723.
Polypharmacy among older adults can cause adverse health outcomes as well as adversely impact social outcomes, medication management, and healthcare utilization. The COFRAIL cluster randomized trial explored whether family conferences can promote deprescribing and reduce adverse outcomes related to polypharmacy in community-dwelling frail older adults. After 12 months of follow-up, the researchers did not find any significant difference in hospitalizations among patients randomized to family conferences or usual care. The number of potentially inappropriate prescriptions decreased among patients randomized to family conferences at 6-month follow-up, but this reduction was not sustained at the 12-month follow-up.
Hessels AJ, Guo J, Johnson CT, et al. Am J Infect Control. 2023;51:482-489.
Standard precautions, including hand hygiene and sharps safety, keep patients and staff safe, but adherence is suboptimal. An earlier systematic review shows an association between standard precaution compliance and overall safety climate. This study aimed to determine if adherence to standard precautions and safety climate were associated with healthcare associated infection (HAI) rates. Adherence rates were low (64%) and associated with HAI and healthcare worker needlesticks.
de Arriba Fernández A, Sánchez Medina R, Dorta Hung ME, et al. J Patient Saf. 2023;19:249-250.
As more patients with COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals during the pandemic, concerns about healthcare-acquired COVID-19 and potential associated adverse events increased. In this retrospective study, 126 patients with hospital-acquired COVID-19 were moved to isolation or quarantine. Twenty-nine patients experienced one or more adverse events due to isolation or quarantine, including delayed transfer to other specialties and delayed diagnostic tests. Nosocomial COVID-19 infection was confirmed as cause of death in one patient, and a possible cause in 11 others.
May 4, 2023
The implementation of effective patient safety initiatives is challenging due to the complexity of the health care environment. This curated library shares resources summarizing overarching ideas and strategies that can aid in successful program execution, establishment, and sustainability.
Ude-Okeleke RC, Aslanpour Z, Dhillon S, et al. J Pharm Pract. 2023;36:357-369.
Older adults are particularly vulnerable to medication-related safety events. This systematic review including 21 studies on medication-related problems in in older adults identified several types of safety issues (e.g., potentially inappropriate prescribing, polypharmacy, adverse drug reactions) that lead to poor outcomes among older adults in nursing homes, inpatient care, and community settings. The authors found the classes of medication related problems are similar to studies from a decade ago, suggesting that more intensive monitoring is needed.
Sands KE, Blanchard EJ, Fraker S, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6:e238059.
Changes in healthcare delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about increases in healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs). This cross-sectional analysis of more than five million hospitalizations between 2020 and 2022 found that the incidence of HAIs was higher among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to patients hospitalized without COVID-19.
Basger BJ, Moles RJ, Chen TF. BMC Geriatr. 2023;23:183.
Potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) and polypharmacy, defined as taking 5 or more medications, can increase the risk of hospitalization and other adverse events for older adults. This article describes the implementation and success of a patient-centered medication review conducted at the time of hospital discharge. Nearly all patients followed up with their general practitioner on the pharmacist’s recommendations and approximately three-quarters were implemented. Including the patient and/or caregiver was a key component of the intervention. 
Leapfrog Group
Drawing from data reported by the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), this website provides grades for hospitals in the United States based on their safety. The Spring 2023 hospital safety grade results, documenting the impact of COVID-19 on patient satisfaction and healthcare associated infection, are available. 
Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.
The comprehensive unit-based safety program (CUSP) approach emphasizes improving safety culture through a continuous process of reporting and learning from errors, improving teamwork, and engaging staff at all levels in safety efforts. Available on demand and live, this session covers how to utilize CUSP, including understanding and addressing challenges to implementation. The next virtual session will be held July 18, 2023.
World Health Organization
This global initiative raises awareness about hand hygiene as a strategy to reduce health care–associated infections. The initiative includes an annual promotional campaign that takes place on May 5. The theme for 2023 is "Accelerate action together".