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 384 Results

How timely is diagnosis of lung cancer? Cohort study of individuals with lung cancer presenting in ambulatory care in the United States.

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Zigman Suchsland M, Kowalski L, Burkhardt HA, et al. Cancers (Basel). 2022;14:5756.

Delayed diagnosis and treatment of cancer is a serious patient safety problem. This retrospective study including 711 patients diagnosed with lung cancer used electronic health records and natural language processing (NLP) to identify relevant signs and symptoms in the two years prior to their cancer diagnosis. Researchers found that NLP can identify signs and symptoms associated with lung cancer over a year prior to diagnosis.

AHRQ Safety Program for Telemedicine.

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Telemedicine efforts harbor both risk and reward to patients and providers. The AHRQ Safety Program for Telemedicine is a national effort to develop and implement a bundle of evidence-based interventions designed to improve telemedicine care in two settings—the cancer diagnostic process and antibiotic use. To test the bundle of interventions, the program will involve two cohorts of healthcare professionals who utilize telemedicine as a care delivery model. It is an 18-month program, beginning in June 2023, that seeks to improve the cancer diagnostic process for patients who receive some or all of their care through telemedicine. Recruitment webinars start in late January and run through early May 2023; the antibiotic use cohort will begin recruitment in December 2023.

What do patients and their carers do to support the safety of cancer treatment and care? A scoping review.

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Tillbrook D, Absolom K, Sheard L, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:779-787.

Patient and caregiver engagement in medical treatment can promote safety. This scoping review explored the qualitive research regarding how patients and caregivers engage in safety during cancer treatment. Four themes were identified – patient perception and involvement in safety; patient engagement in their care; safety as a collective responsibility; and the importance of caregivers relative to the amount of support they receive.

Factors impacting on patient setup analysis and error management during breast cancer radiotherapy.

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Costin I-C, Marcu LG. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2022;178:103798.

Radiotherapy errors can be significant and sometimes fatal. This systematic review describes errors in patient set up based on verification systems, the immobilization devices used, and the patient’s positioning during breast cancer treatment. The advantages and drawbacks of the most common position verification systems, error types associated with immobilization systems, and the influence of treatment position are reviewed.

A perfect storm averted: flawed systems, a dropped ball, and cognitive biases delay a critical diagnosis.

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Roberts TJ, Sellars MC, Sands JM, et al. JCO Oncol Pract. 2022;18:833-839.

Missed diagnosis of infectious diseases can have serious consequences for patient safety. This article describes a delayed diagnosis of disseminated tuberculosis in a patient with lung cancer and discusses the how cognitive biases and systems failures contributed to the diagnostic error.

The impact of COVID-19 workflow changes on radiation oncology incident reporting.

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Volpini ME, Lekx‐Toniolo K, Mahon R, et al. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2022;23:e13742.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted the way that health care teams function. This study examined how COVID-19-related workflow changes affected reporting of medical errors and near misses occurring in one hospital’s radiation oncology program. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was fewer incidents reported overall, but an increase in submissions related to poor documentation and communication.

Effect of a pharmacy-based centralized intravenous admixture service on the prevalence of medication errors: a before-and-after study.

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Jessurun JG, Hunfeld NGM, Van Rosmalen J, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:e1181-e1188.

Intravenous admixture preparation errors (IAPE) in hospitals are common and may result in harm if they reach the patient. In this before-and-after study, IAPE data were collected to evaluate the safety of a pharmacy-based centralized intravenous admixture service (CIVAS). Compared to the initial standard practice (nurse preparation on the ward), IAPE of all severity levels (i.e., potential error, no harm, harm) decreased and there were no errors in the highest severity level after implementation of CIVAS.

Concordance with urgent referral guidelines in patients presenting with any of six ‘alarm’ features of possible cancer: a retrospective cohort study using linked primary care records.

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Wiering B, Lyratzopoulos G, Hamilton W, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2022;31:579-589.

Delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. This retrospective study linking data reflecting primary and secondary care as well as cancer registry data found that only 40% of patients presenting with common possible cancer features received an urgent referral to specialist care within 14 days. Findings revealed that a significant number of these patients developed cancer within one year.

Comparison of a voluntary safety reporting system to a global trigger tool for identifying adverse events in an oncology population.

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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.

Translating electronic health record-based patient safety algorithms from research to clinical practice at multiple sites.

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Zimolzak AJ, Singh H, Murphy DR, et al. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2022;29(1):e100565.

Patient safety algorithms developed through research must also be implemented into clinical practice. This article describes the process of translating an electronic health record-based algorithm for detecting missed follow-up of colorectal or lung cancer testing, from research into practice. All 12 test sites were able to successfully implement the trigger and identify appropriate cases.

Multilevel factors associated with time to biopsy after abnormal screening mammography results by race and ethnicity.

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Lawson MB, Bissell MCS, Miglioretti DL, et al. JAMA Oncol. 2022;8:1115-1126.

Delays in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment can threaten patient safety. This study analyzed data from a large US breast cancer screening consortium to evaluate differences in diagnostic follow-up among racial and ethnic groups. Findings indicate that Black women were most likely to experience diagnostic delays (between receipt of abnormal screening result to biopsy) after adjusting for individual-, neighborhood-, and health care-level factor, emphasizing the need to address the potential for systemic racism in healthcare.

Engaging with ethnic minority consumers to improve safety in cancer services: a national stakeholder analysis.

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Joseph K, Newman B, Manias E, et al. Patient Educ Couns. 2022;105:2778-2784.

Lack of patient engagement in care can place them at increased risk for safety events. This qualitative study explored ethnic minority stakeholder perspectives about patient engagement in cancer care. Focus groups consisting of participants from consumer and health organizations involved in cancer care in Australia identified three themes supporting successful engagement – consideration of sociocultural beliefs about cancer, adaptation of existing techniques tailored to stakeholders (e.g., culturally specific content), and accounting for factors such as cultural competence during implementation.

Identifying patients whose symptoms are underrecognized during treatment with breast radiotherapy.

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Jagsi R, Griffith KA, Vicini F, et al for the Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium. JAMA Oncol. Epub 2022 Apr 21.

Concordance of patient-reported symptoms and provider-documented symptoms is necessary for appropriate patient care and has clinical implications for research. This study compared patient-reported symptoms (pain, pruritus, edema, and fatigue) following radiotherapy for breast cancer with provider assessments. Underrecognition of at least one symptom occurred in more than 50% of patients. Underrecognition was more common in Black patients and those seen by male physicians. The authors suggest that interventions to improve communication between providers and patients may not only improve outcomes but also reduce racial disparities.

Estimation of breast cancer overdiagnosis in a U.S. breast screening cohort.

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Ryser MD, Lange J, Inoue LYT, et al. Ann Intern Med. 2022;175:471-478.

Overdiagnosis of breast cancer can result in overtreatment and cause physical and emotional harm. Based on data from 35,986 women in a US-based breast cancer screening registry, this study estimates that15.4% of screen-detected cancers are overdiagnosed (i.e., detecting indolent preclinical cancer or detecting progressive preclinical cancer among women who would have died of unrelated causes before clinical diagnosis), which is higher than previous estimates. The authors suggest that data can improve shared decision-making between patients and physicians.

Comparison of a focused family cancer history questionnaire to family history documentation in the electronic medical record.

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Clift K, Macklin-Mantia S, Barnhorst M, et al. J Prim Care Community Health. 2022;13:215013192110697.

Knowing a patient’s individual risk factors for developing cancer can assist patients and providers in deciding when to screen for cancers and can prevent both overtreatment and delays in care. This study compared patient-reported family history of cancer in the electronic health record (EHR) and family history collected using a focused questionnaire. Results showed inconsistencies between the two, especially for patients with more complicated family histories.

Achieving Excellence in Cancer Diagnosis: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief.

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2022.

Diagnostic errors remain an ongoing challenge in many medical specialties, including oncology. This workshop reviewed the evidence base examining challenges in cancer diagnosis, discussed suggestions for improvement in the field, and looked toward a safer future for cancer patients.

Evaluating incident learning systems and safety culture in two radiation oncology departments.

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Adamson L, Beldham‐Collins R, Sykes J, et al. J Med Radiat Sci. 2022;69:208-217.

Reporting of near misses and adverse events can provide a foundation for learning from error. This quality improvement project surveyed radiation oncology staff in two local health districts to assess understanding and use of incident learning systems, barriers to reporting or needs for process change, and perception of departmental safety culture. System processes (e.g., takes too long) were identified as barriers to reporting more frequently than safety culture (e.g., fear of negative action towards self or others).

Encouraging patients to speak up about problems in cancer care.

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Mazor KM, Kamineni A, Roblin DW, et al. J Patient Saf. 2021;17:e1278-e1284.

Patient engagement and encouraging speaking up can promote safety. This randomized study found that patients undergoing cancer treatment who were randomized to an active outreach program were significantly more likely to speak up and report healthcare concerns than patients in the control group.

Using failure mode and effects analysis to increase patient safety in cancer chemotherapy.

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Weber L, Schulze I, Jaehde U. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2022;18:3386-3393.

Chemotherapy administration errors can result in serious patient harm. Using failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), researchers identified potential failures related to the medication process for intravenous chemotherapy. Common failures included incorrect patient information, non-standardized chemotherapy protocols, and problems related to supportive therapy.

Use of artificial intelligence for image analysis in breast cancer screening programmes: systematic review of test accuracy.

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Freeman K, Geppert J, Stinton C, et al. BMJ. 2021;374:n1872.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used and studied in multiple healthcare processes, including detecting patient deterioration and surgical decision making. This literature review focuses on studies using AI to detect breast cancer in mammography screening practice. The authors recommend additional prospective studies before using artificial intelligence in clinical practice.

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