Skip to main content

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.

Search All Content

Search Tips
Save
Selection
Format
Download
Published Date
Original Publication Date
Original Publication Date
PSNet Publication Date
Search By Author(s)
Additional Filters
Approach to Improving Safety
Displaying 1 - 20 of 421 Results
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25:E615-E623.
The safety culture of an operating room is known to affect teamwork and patient outcome. This article discusses the unique characteristics of robotic-assisted surgical practice and approaches teams and organizations can take to enhance communication that supports a safe care culture.
Tan GM, Murto K, Downey LA, et al. Paediatr Anaesth. 2023;33:609-619.
Blood management errors can lead to serious patient harm. This article highlights five patient safety risks during pediatric perioperative blood management (failure to recognize and treat preoperative anemia, failure to obtain informed consent regarding perioperative blood management, failure to consider specific intraoperative blood conservation techniques in children, failure to recognize massive hemorrhage, failure to prevent unnecessary transfusion). The authors discuss potential solutions to address these safety risks.
Wiggett A, Fischer G. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2023;147:933-939.
Miscommunication between pathologists and surgeons can lead to significant patient harm. This study identified multiple discrepancies between pathologist-listed diagnoses included in intraoperative consult notes compared to surgeon-dictated operative notes. Discrepancies were most common in multipart cases and those involving deferrals.

Abraham J, Rosen M, Greilich PE eds. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2023;49(8):341-434.

Handoffs occur several times during a surgical procedure, increasing the risk of communication mistakes and misunderstandings. This special issue explores perioperative handoffs and strategies to improve them. Topics covered include information accuracy, teamwork science, and artificial intelligence.

Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018-2023.

Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery is vulnerable to wrong site errors and other challenges present in surgical care. This series of articles highlights key areas of importance for the specialty as they work to enhance patient safety. The latest 2023 installment covers measurement.
Arredondo Montero J, Bardají Pascual C. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2023;Epub May 29.
Human factors strategies are increasingly applied in health care to mitigate the impact of human error in medicine. This article discusses the use of checklists to systematize anesthesia and reduce risk in pediatric surgery.
Olin K, Klinga C, Ekstedt M, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:651.
The operating room is a high-risk environment involving complex tasks. This study used cognitive task analysis (CTA) to explore how anesthesia nurses and anesthesiologists manage complex everyday situations during intraoperative care processes. Findings underscore the importance of available resources, team composition, and non-technical skills (NTS) for managing complex daily work and promoting patient safety.

Peard LM, Teplitsky S, Annabathula A, et al. Can J Urol. 2023;30(2):11467-11472.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is one tool commonly used to identify factors contributing to adverse events. Using RCA data from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), this study characterized adverse events occurring during urologic procedures. The most common causes of adverse events were improperly functioning equipment (e.g., broken scopes or smoking light cords), wrong site surgeries, and retained surgical items.
Schwappach DLB, Pfeiffer Y. Patient Saf Surg. 2023;17:15.
Retained surgical items (RSIs) can lead to serious patient harm. Survey findings from 21 clinicians and stakeholders in Switzerland emphasized the importance of addressing production pressures, encouraging a culture of safety and teamwork, and implementation of effective counting procedures to reduce the incidence of retained surgical items.
Bowman CL, De Gorter R, Zaslow J, et al. BMJ Open Qual. 2023;12:e002264.
Never events are catastrophic adverse events resulting in patient death or significant disability that are largely preventable. This narrative synthesis describes which events organizations most frequently identify as never events, and which are most commonly described as entirely preventable. 125 unique never events were identified, nearly 20% of which were classified as entirely preventable. The most frequent never events were wrong site or wrong patient surgery, wrong surgical procedure, and unintentionally retained objects.
Turley N, Elam M, Brindle ME. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6:e2317183.
The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) has been widely implemented in surgical settings across the globe. This qualitative study examined surgical team member experience regarding modifications to the SSC in hospitals in high-income countries. Respondents supported routine review of SSCs to ensure they are modified and updated to address local issues and standards of practice and noted that the modification process can improve team cohesion and SSC buy-in.
Cohen TN, Kanji FF, Wang AS, et al. Am J Surg. 2023;226:315-321.
Intraoperative deaths are rare, catastrophic events. This retrospective review of 154 intraoperative deaths occurring between March 2010 and August 2022 at one academic medical center found that most deaths occurred during emergency procedures. Common contributing factors included coordination challenges, skill-based errors, and environmental factors.
Wolf M, Rolf J, Nelson D, et al. Hosp Pharm. 2023;58:309-314.
Medication administration is a complex process and is a common source of preventable patient harm. This retrospective chart review of 145 surgical patients over a two-month period found that 98.6% of cases involved a potential medication error, most frequently due to potential dose omissions and involving vasopressors, opioids, or neuromuscular blockers.
D’Angelo A-LD, Kapur N, Kelley SR, et al. Surgery. 2023;174:222-228.
Prior research has asked surgeons how they cope with intraoperative errors, but this study asks operating room personnel how they perceive surgeons' coping strategies. Positive response strategies included announcing that an error has occurred and the plan for managing it. Negative responses include the surgeon becoming visibly upset, raising their voice, and blaming others. The authors suggest additional education on positive strategies to cope with errors during medical education and residency.
Duffy C, Menon N, Horak D, et al. J Patient Saf. 2023;19:281-286.
Resiliency and proactive safety behaviors can improve safety in the perioperative environment. In this article, the authors describe safety attitudes of perioperative staff after participating in a proactive activity, One Safe Act (OSA). Most participants reported the OSA activity would change their work practices, improve their work unit's ability to deliver safe care, and demonstrate their colleagues' commitment to patient safety.
Arad D, Rosenfeld A, Magnezi R. Patient Saf Surg. 2023;17:6.
Surgical never events are rare but devastating for patients. Using machine learning, this study identified 24 contributing factors to two types of surgical never events - wrong site surgery and retained items. Communication, the number and type of staff present, and the type and length of surgery were identified contributing factors.
Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation. September 6–7, 2023.
Anesthesia is a high-risk activity that has achieved safety successes. This hybrid conference explored topics related to the theme of “Emerging Medical Technologies – A Patient Safety Perspective on Wearables, Big Data and Remote Care.” Videos of the sessions are available.

Moorehead LD. Outpatient Surgery. April 5, 2023.

Retained surgical items (RSIs) are considered “never events” but continue to be a source of patient harm. This article discusses the various factors that increase risk of RSIs and strategies to prevent them, such as a consistent counting process and fostering a culture of safety that encourages speaking up and a non-punitive response to errors.
Richburg CE, Dossett LA, Hughes TM. Surg Clin North Am. 2023;103:271-285.
Cognitive biases can threaten patient safety in a variety of ways. This narrative review summarizes the common cognitive biases in surgical care and how they threaten patient safety, including delays in diagnosis and treatment, unnecessary surgeries, and intraoperative errors and complications. The authors also discuss cognitive debiasing strategies to mitigate the impact of cognitive biases.
Duffy C, Menon N, Horak D, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6:e237621.
Safety-II is a proactive approach to improving patient safety by focusing on what goes right in healthcare. This study describes the use of a novel tool and activity, One Safe Act (OSA), to capture activities performed by perioperative staff that keep patients safe. Eight themes emerged, with the most common theme being routines the staff “always” performed, followed by confirming resource availability.