Misuse of prescription opioids represents a serious patient safety issue. Using commercial claims from 2014 - 2018, researchers examined the association between the 2016 CDC guidelines to reduce unsafe opioid prescribing and opioid dispensing for patients with four common chronic pain diagnoses. Findings indicate that the release of the 2016 guidelines was associated with reductions in the percentage of patients receiving opioids, average dose prescribed, percentage receiving high-dose prescriptions, number of days supplied, and the percentage of patients receiving concurrent opioid/benzodiazepine prescriptions. The authors observe that questions remain about how clinicians are tailoring opioid reductions using a patient-centered approach.

Patient safety incidents occurring in prehospital care settings are gaining increasing attention. This systematic review including both peer-reviewed studies and grey literature found that the incidence rate of prehospital patient safety incidents is similar to hospital rates. The authors identified an average of 5.9 patient safety incidents per 100 records/transports/patients occurring in prehospital care; approximately 15% of these incidents resulted in patient harm. The authors discuss methodological challenges to preshopital care research and make recommendations for future studies.

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. 

Health care decision making and delivery are vulnerable to unconscious bias. This commentary discusses strategies in place to address unconscious bias as it affects medication safety. The authors suggest a focus on engaging ethnic minority consumers as partners to design improvement programs to enhance medication delivery.

The WHO surgical safety checklist has been implemented in healthcare systems around the world. Survey responses from 2,032 surgical team members from high-income countries suggest that most respondents perceive the checklist as enhancing patient safety, but that not all team members are engaging with its use or feel confident in their role in the checklist process.

This longitudinal study concluded that culturally competent hospitals have better patient safety culture than other hospitals. Based on survey data, results indicate that hospitals with higher levels of engagement in diversity programs had higher perceptions of management support for safety, teamwork across units, and nonpunitive responses.

Using data from the Veterans Health Administration National Center for Patient Safety, this retrospective study found that suicide and opioid overdose are the most serious healthcare-related adverse events affecting homeless veterans. Identified root causes include issues related to risk assessment for suicidal or overdose behaviors as well as poor interdisciplinary communication and coordination of care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. This study used registry data to examine racial and ethnic disparities in post-discharge outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Findings indicate that Black patients may be more vulnerable to COVID-19-related complications (e.g., higher 60-day readmission rates) and extended recovery periods (e.g., longest delays in returning to work).

Researchers in this study used healthcare failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA) to identify and reduce errors during chemotherapy preparation. Nine potential failure modes were identified – wrong label, drug, dose, solvent, or volume; non-sterile preparation; incomplete control; improper packaging or labeling, and; break or spill – and the potential causes and effects. Potential approaches to reduce these failure modes include updating the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), implementing a bar code system, and using a weight-based control system.

Errors and near misses reported via incident reporting systems can highlight emerging patient safety concerns; however, rates of reporting remain low. In this comparison study of web-based and interactive voice response systems (IVRS), the mean number of reports was higher for IVRS and length of time to complete the report was lower.

This study explored associations between person-related (e.g., individual responsible for medication error), environment-related (e.g., transitions of care), and communication-related (e.g., misreading of medication order) medication errors in two Australian hospitals. The authors recommend that improved communication regarding medications with patients and families could reduce medication errors associated with possible or probable harm.

A common type of diagnostic error is availability bias, or diagnosing a patient based on experiences with past similar cases. This study examined whether an emergency physician’s recent experience of a patient presenting with shortness of breath and diagnosed with pulmonary embolism increased subsequent pulmonary embolism diagnoses. While pulmonary embolism diagnosis did increase over the following ten days, that effect did not persist over the 50 days following the first 10 days.

Incident reporting systems are used to detect patient safety concerns and determine potential causes and opportunities for improvements. In the perioperative setting of one hospital, insufficient handoffs were the most common event type in the “coordination of care” category. Use of structured handoffs is recommended to improve communication and patient safety.