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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 1203 Results
Benishek LE, Kachalia A, Daugherty Biddison L. JAMA. 2023;Epub Feb 23.
The quality and culture of the health care work environment is known to affect care delivery. This commentary discusses human-centered and participatory design approaches as avenues for developing improvements in clinician well-being that will enhance safety for staff, providers, and patients.
AHA Team Training. April 20 - June 8 2023.
The TeamSTEPPS program was developed to support effective communication and teamwork in health care. This online series will prepare participants to guide their organizations through implementation of the TeamSTEPPS program. It is designed for individuals that are new to TeamSTEPPS processes. 

Dabekaussen K, Scheepers RA, Heineman E, et al. PLoS One. 2023;18(1):e0280444.

Disruptive and unprofessional behavior has been linked to adverse events and staff burnout. This study describes the frequency and types of unprofessional behavior among health care professionals and identifies those most likely to exhibit unprofessional behavior and who is the likely target. Nearly two-thirds of respondents experienced unprofessional behavior at least monthly, most frequently from those outside their department.
Abrams R, Conolly A, Rowland E, et al. J Adv Nurs. 2023;Epub Jan 16.
Speaking up about safety concerns is an important component of safety culture. In this study, nurses in a variety of fields shared their experiences with speaking up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three themes emerged: the ability to speak up or not, anticipated consequences of speaking up, and responses, or lack thereof, from managers.
Huff NR, Liu G, Chimowitz H, et al. Int J Nurs Stud Adv. 2022;5:100111.
Negative emotions can adversely impact perception of both patient safety and personal risks. In this study, emergency nurses were surveyed about their emotions (e.g., afraid, calm), emotional suppression and reappraisal behaviors, and perceived risk of personal and patient safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses reported feeling both positive and negative emotions, but only negative emotions were significantly associated with greater perception of risk.
Greig PR, Zolger D, Onwochei DN, et al. Anaesthesia. 2023;78:343-355.
Cognitive aids, such as checklists and decision aids, can reduce omissions in care and improve patient safety. This systematic review including 13 randomized trials found that cognitive aids in clinical emergencies reduced the incidence of missed care steps (from 43% to 11%) and medical errors, and improved teamwork, non-technical, and conflict resolution scores.
Aubin DL, Soprovich A, Diaz Carvallo F, et al. BMJ Open Qual. 2022;11:e002004.
Healthcare workers (HCW) and patients can experience negative psychological impacts following medical error; the negative impact can be compounded when workers and patients are prevented from processing the error. This study explored interactions between patients/families and HCWs following a medical error, highlighting barriers to communication, as well as the need for training and peer support for HCWs. Importantly, HCW and patients/families expressed feeling empathy towards the other and stressed that open communication can lead to healing for some.
Leitman IM, Muller D, Miller S, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e2244661.
The effectiveness of incident reporting systems is hindered by underreporting. This cohort study describes the characteristics of incident reports submitted by trainees in a large academic medical center. From October 2019 through December 2021, trainees submitted nearly 200 incident reports, primarily describing unprofessional interactions. Findings suggest that awareness and support for the online incident reporting system among trainees was high.
Kim S, Lynn MR, Baernholdt MB, et al. J Nurs Care Qual. 2022;38:11-18.
In response to concerns about workplace violence (WPV) directed at healthcare workers in the US, the Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert and recommendations to increase organizational awareness of this risk. This study evaluated the effect of one of those recommendations, a WPV-reporting culture, on nurses’ burnout and patient safety. As anticipated, WPV increased nurse burnout, but unexpectedly, a strong WPV-reporting culture also increased the negative effect of WPV on burnout.
Perspective on Safety November 16, 2022

Dr. Pascale Carayon, PhD, is a professor emerita in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the founding director of the Wisconsin Institute for Healthcare Systems Engineering (WIHSE). Dr. Nicole Werner, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Health and Wellness Design at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington. We spoke with both of them about the role of human factors engineering has in improving healthcare delivery and its role in patient safety.

Premier House, 60 Caversham Road, Reading, RG1 7EB.
Independent investigations examine system weaknesses in health care to inform improvement, reduce risk, and prevent harm. This organization collects information from individuals, groups, and organizations to identify and analyze incidents of substandard care and to proactively provide recommendations to reduce conditions that perpetuate failure in the National Health Service. Investigation areas include medication delivery for older patients and safe maternity care.
Shanafelt TD, West CP, Dyrbye LN, et al. Mayo Clinic Proc. 2022;97:2248-2258.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased attention on clinician burnout and well-being. This survey of 2,440 US physicians identified an increase in burnout and decrease in satisfaction with work-life integration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with earlier surveys (in 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2020, respondents reported higher mean emotional exhaustion scores, depersonalization scores, and burnout symptoms.
Seys D, De Decker E, Waelkens H, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:717-721.
Burnout and stress among healthcare workers can adversely impact patient safety. Using data from two cross-sectional surveys, this study found the COVID-19 pandemic had a larger impact on the mental health and well-being of healthcare workers compared to involvement in a patient safety incident. Negative psychological symptoms such as anxiety, sleep deprivation, and wanting to leave the profession were all significantly higher in COVID-19-related groups. 
Vauk S, Seelandt JC, Huber K, et al. Br J Anaesth. 2022;129:776-787.
Prior studies have demonstrated rudeness and incivility undermines patient safety. In this study, hospital staff participated in a simulated scenario with scripted, randomly assigned responses to speaking up (civil, pseudo-civil, or rude). Unexpectedly, participants were more likely to speak up following the rude response than either the civil or pseudo-civil responses. The authors describe potential reasons for this unexpected finding.
Curated Libraries
October 10, 2022
Selected PSNet materials for a general safety audience focusing on improvements in the diagnostic process and the strategies that support them to prevent diagnostic errors from harming patients.
Sexton JB, Adair KC, Proulx J, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e2232748.
The COVID-19 pandemic increased symptoms of physician burnout, including emotional exhaustion, which can increase patient safety risks. This cross-sectional study examined emotional exhaustion among healthcare workers at two large health care systems in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents reported increases in emotional exhaustion in themselves and perceived exhaustion experienced by their colleagues. The researchers found that emotional exhaustion was often clustered in work settings, highlighting the importance of organizational climate and safety culture in mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on healthcare worker well-being.
McTaggart LS, Walker JP. Health Sci Rev. 2022;4:100049.
Burnout is a significant problem among medical residents. This literature review characterizes the state of the evidence regarding resident burnout and professionalism. The authors discuss the evidence supporting the relationship between burnout and medical errors, poor quality patient care, and poor academic performance.
Neiswender K, Figueroa-Altmann A, Granahan K, et al. Patient Safety. 2022;4:34-38.
Shifting to a nonpunitive approach to adverse events can improve error reporting and the overall safety culture. This article describes findings from focus groups with nurses at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) regarding the perceived punitive nature of the hospital’s incident reporting system and outlines how those findings informed changes to the error review process. Lessons learned highlight the importance of who performs error follow-up, skills for navigating difficult conversations, transparency, and executive-level support. Five years after these program changes were implemented, 96% of nurses surveyed felt that the new process was nonpunitive.
Hodkinson A, Zhou, A, Johnson J, et al. BMJ. 2022;378:e070442.
Clinician burnout is a significant issue that can impact patient safety. This systematic review and meta-analysis showed physicians with burnout were significantly more dissatisfied with their jobs, were more regretful of their chosen career path, and had higher intention to leave their jobs. The association between burnout and patient satisfaction, patient safety, and professionalism is also discussed.