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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 2563 Results
Albanowski K, Burdick KJ, Bonafide CP, et al. AACN Adv Crit Care. 2023;34:189-197.
Alarm (or alert) fatigue occurs when clinicians ignore alarms, usually due to the majority being invalid or nonactionable, and thus fail to respond or respond more slowly to actionable alerts. The article describes the progress made in reducing nonactionable alarms and making actionable alarms more useful to responding clinicians. Clinical approaches include customization of alert parameters to reduce nonactionable alarms, while engineering solutions include reducing the volume or adjusting the tone of auditory alerts.
Jensen JF, Ramos J, Ørom M‐L, et al. J Clin Nurs. 2023;Epub Jul 17.
Crisis (or crew) resource management (CRM) training focuses on improvement of non-technical skills such as communication, teamwork, and situational awareness. This quality improvement project consisted of simulation-based CRM training in the context of intensive care unit admission. Interviews with participants, conducted three months after the simulation, revealed several themes including reflections on patient safety. Participants described positive changes in workflow, professional standards, and smoother and controlled processes.

World Health Organization.

The sharing of best practices is a key component of enabling successful strategy implementation in support of patient safety plans and goals. This website will capture, organize, and share experiences worldwide to support knowledge sharing and community building to reduce World Patient Safety Day targeted challenges.
Imes CC, Tucker SJ, Trinkoff AM, et al. Nurs Adm Q. 2023;47:E38-E53.
Extended and overnight shifts are associated with higher adverse event rates and burnout. This mini review summarizes the impact of overnight shifts on nurses' health, patient and public safety, and organizational costs (e.g., those related to nurse turnover). Organizational strategies to promote nurses' health and reduce errors are also summarized, ranging from low-cost measures such as breaks for physical activity during the shift to high-cost measures such as referral to sleep specialists or paid transportation home.
Kane J, Munn L, Kane SF, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2023;Epub Sept 5.
Clinicians and staff are encouraged to speak up about safety concerns as a part of patient safety culture. This review had two aims: to review the literature on speaking up for patient safety, and to develop a single definition of "speaking up" in healthcare. 294 articles were identified with 51 directly focused on speaking up and the remaining on other aspects such as communication. 11 distinct definitions were identified from which the authors developed a single definition: a healthcare professional identifying a concern that might impact patient safety and using his or her voice to raise the concern to someone with the power to address it.

The Daisy Foundation and Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Nurses have a fundamental role in safe care delivery by fostering a healthy work environment. This award recognizes nurses that exhibit compassion, patient and family centeredness, and a commitment to workplace safety. The award will be presented at annual IHI Patient Safety Congress. The award nomination process for 2023 closes on December 3.

Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: September 2023.

Patient safety progress is dynamic, consistently producing evidence for application to generate improvements. This report is the fourth in a series funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to track a prioritized set of emerging and existing safety approaches to confirm their value and effectiveness. This report will be compiled as new conclusions are formulated. Each review will be posted to the collection as they are completed. The first three Making Healthcare Safer reports, published in 2001, 2013, and 2020, have each served as a consolidated evidence source for clinicians, health system leadership, researchers, and government agencies. Chapter protocols and the results of an examination of harms associated with video-based telehealth are now available. 
Yartsev A, Yang F. Simul Healthc. 2023;18:279-282.
Intensive care units (ICUs) are complex care environments at high risk for medical errors. In this retrospective study, researchers identified the occurrence of common ICU scenarios and skills during code blue events and measured trainees’ self-reported confidence in these skills. The analysis found that more than 25% of trainees reported low levels of confidence in three scenarios – familiarity with the advanced life support trolley, electrocardiogram strip interpretation, and operation of an external defibrillator. This process of integrating critical incident data with trainee self-assessment can be generalized to other clinical scenarios to create targeted education and simulation curriculum.
Hose B-Z, Carayon P, Hoonakker PLT, et al. Appl Ergon. 2023;113:104105.
Health information technology (IT) usability continues to be a source of patient harm. This study describes the perspectives of a variety of pediatric trauma team members (e.g., pediatric emergency medicine attending, surgical technician, pediatric intensive care unit attending) on the usability of a potential team health IT care transition tool. Numerous barriers and facilitators were identified and varied across department and role.
Seys D, Panella M, Russotto S, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:816.
Clinicians who are involved in a patient safety incident can experience psychological harm. This literature review of 104 studies identified five levels of support that can be provided to healthcare workers after a patient safety incident – (1) prevention, (2) self-care of individuals and/or teams, (3) support by peers and triage, (4) structured professional support, and (5) structured clinical support.
Ryan SL, Logan M, Liu X, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2023;Epub Jul 31.
I-PASS is a structured tool to improve handoffs and communication between clinicians and promote patient safety. This study examined I-PASS implementation practices over a six-year period in 10 departments at one large academic medical center. Researchers found that most clinical services successfully implemented I-PASS and those using I-PASS conducted the most efficient handovers.

Subgroup on Patient Safety. Washington DC: President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology; September 2023.

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology brings together topic experts to summarize important issues for the consideration of the President of the United States. This report introduces the persistent problem of unsafe care and recommends a federal leadership entity, application of evidence-based solutions, true patient partnership and research funding as avenues to achieve stable improvement.
Stærk M, Lauridsen KG, Johnsen J, et al. Resusc Plus. 2023;14:100410.
In situ simulation is a valuable tool to identify latent safety threats. In this study, 36 unannounced in situ in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) simulations were conducted across 4 hospitals and identified 30 system errors. Errors were categorized as involving human, organization, hardware, or software errors. These system errors contributed to treatment delays and care omissions.
Griffeth EM, Gajic O, Schueler N, et al. J Patient Saf. 2023;Epub Jul 19.
Voluntary reporting is an important tool for institutions to identify latent safety threats before they reach the patient but barriers to reporting result in low reporting rates. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to increase near miss and error reporting within 9 intensive care units (ICU) in one healthcare system. After identifying barriers to reporting (e.g., user difficulty with online reporting system), a multi-faceted intervention was developed and implemented. Error reporting increased in 6 of 9 ICUs following implementation, with a significant increase in near miss reports.
Christensen SM, Andrews SR, Fox ER. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2023;80 :S119-S122.
To maximize safety benefits of smart infusion pumps, drug libraries between the pump, electronic health record (EHR) and pharmacy must be standardized. This article describes the proactive standardization between drug libraries for continuous infusions, including medication names, concentrations, and pump rates. 82 updates were required across the three libraries.
Mohamoud YA, Cassidy E, Fuchs E, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023;72:961–967.
Previous research has found that women often experience mistreatment and discrimination during maternity care. This CDC analysis of survey data for 2,402 respondents found that approximately one in five women experienced at least one type of mistreatment during maternity care (i.e., being ignored or refused, being shouted at or scolded, having their physical privacy violated). Nearly 29% of respondents reported experiencing at least one form of discrimination during their maternity care (i.e., age-, weight-, income-, or race/ethnicity-based discrimination).

Geneva, Switzerland; International Council of Nurses: 2023.

Nursing is foundational to safe patient care. This statement outlines recommendations for the nursing community to support the World Health Organization Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030. Tactics described target, governmental, organizational, and individual actions for improvement.

Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research; August 22, 2023.

The articulation of diagnostic error in the ambulatory setting is emerging. These newly released funding announcements seek proposals that focus on understanding the factors contributing to diagnostic error and strategies to improve diagnostic safety in the ambulatory care environment. The application deadline for both opportunities has passed.
McGurgan P. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2023;63:606-611.
Individual-, team-, and systems-based factors can affect safety during childbirth. This article discusses several patient safety threats that can hinder the safety of vaginal birth after cesarean (VAC) deliveries in high population density areas, including staffing and resource limitations, cultural and human factors, and patient communication.
Garcia-Jorda D, Nikitovic D, Gilfoyle E. Simul Healthc. 2023;18:232-239.
Simulation trainings are widely used to identify safety threats and improve processes. By analyzing video recordings of pediatric cardiac arrest simulations, researchers were able to identify 5 main areas of errors: clinical, planning and execution, communication, distraction, and knowledge/training. Investigating the root causes of these errors can result in improved trainings and, thus, improved patient outcomes.