The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated rapid adjustments in hospital operations to address patient care demands. This commentary discusses how one hospital system utilized their quality and safety staff during the pandemic, and how that experience informed the responsiveness of system-wide quality improvement operations.

The publication of To Err Is Human in 1999 drew national attention to the issue of patient safety and is often credited with catalyzing widespread efforts to reduce health care–related harm. At the time of the report's publication, central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) were considered unpreventable. However, subsequent public reporting programs and the trend toward nonpayment for preventable harm have led not only to a significant reduction in CLABSIs, but a decrease in other types of hospital-acquired conditions as well. This directly translates into improved patient outcomes and reduced health care costs. This commentary highlights progress made in patient safety and suggests that future efforts should focus on improving the measurement of adverse events and mitigating diagnostic error. A past PSNet perspective discussed the evolution of patient safety as it relates to surgery.

The landmark Keystone ICU study, which achieved remarkable sustained reductions in central line–associated bloodstream infections in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, stands as one of the most prominent successes of the patient safety field. Although the use of a checklist gathered the most publicity, the study's key insight was that preventing health care–associated infections (HAIs) required extensive attention to improving safety culture by addressing the socioadaptive factors within hospitals that contributed to HAIs. In this new AHRQ funded national study, the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program was implemented at 603 hospitals in 32 states, with the goal of preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infections in ICU and ward patients. The effort involved socioadaptive interventions (various approaches shown to improve safety culture) and technical interventions (targeted training to reduce usage of indwelling urinary catheters and providing regular data feedback to participating units). Catheter usage and infection rates significantly decreased in ward patients, although no change was found in ICU patients. This study thus represents one of the few safety interventions that has achieved a sustainable improvement in a clinical outcome. An earlier article described the implementation of the program, which involved collaboration between state and national agencies and academic centers. In a 2008 PSNet interview, the study's lead author discussed his work on preventing HAIs.

This evaluation of the Transforming Care at the Bedside initiative—a collaborative intended to drive engagement of bedside nurses in enhancing safety through unit-based quality improvement projects—found highly positive perceptions of the program and evidence of widespread implementation of new innovations.

Operating room briefings or time-outs are mandated by The Joint Commission as a strategy to prevent wrong-site surgery. This commentary explores the use of briefings both before and after surgery, evidence regarding their impact, and how a comprehensive unit-based safety program (CUSP) initiative designed and implemented a briefing and debriefing process.

Central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) cause substantial morbidity and mortality. Efforts to combat these complications include implementation of checklists and—perhaps more importantly—the enhancement of safety culture. Despite the widespread success of these interventions, some institutions continue to experience CLABSI rates that are above national benchmarks. This study describes the introduction of a unit-based quality nurse dedicated to preventing CLABSIs within a surgical intensive care unit (ICU) at an academic medical center. The quality nurse helped to educate staff about health care–associated infections and prevention strategies. The nurse also provided immediate, direct feedback to staff regarding their compliance with best practices. The average CLABSI rate decreased significantly, even after adjusting for multiple factors including reduction in CLABSI rates in other adult ICUs. A unit-based quality nurse may prove to be a powerful adjunct to the current available tools for reducing these costly infections.

Leadership WalkRounds—derived from the business management approach of "management by walking around"—are being more widely used as a means of error detection and improving safety culture. This report from a children's hospital, in which structured walkrounds by nursing and physician leaders were implemented on six units, found that this approach increased staff engagement in safety efforts, identified hidden system flaws, and resulted in the successful implementation of multiple quality improvement projects. Although this study did not specifically measure the effect of walkrounds on safety climate, prior studies have found conflicting results, which might imply that different methods of performing walkrounds may influence their success.

A nurse-led comprehensive unit-based safety program identified numerous important safety issues in an intensive care unit. Executive walkrounds helped overcome barriers to address these problems.

This commentary describes the design, implementation, and results of a team dedicated to improving quality and safety in an anesthesia department and highlights outcomes of their performance improvement projects.

A unit-based nurse patient safety officer was implemented on a surgical unit at an academic medical center that had a persistently high rate of falls. The fall rate among inpatients decreased markedly after the patient safety officer position was begun.

Implementation of a comprehensive unit-based safety program was associated with a reduction in surgical site infection rates at a tertiary care hospital.