Interhospital transfer of critical care patients presents patient safety risks. This retrospective study compared adverse event rates between pediatric patient transport both with, and without, parent or family presence. Adverse event rates were not significantly impacted by parental presence.

Safety and quality of care for psychiatric patients is a relatively understudied area of patient safety research. This scoping review explores patient safety strategies used in psychiatry. The review identified seven key strategies that rely on staff performance, competence, and compliance – (1) risk management, (2) healthcare practitioners, (3) patient observation, (4) patient involvement, (5) computerized methods, (6) admission and discharge, and (7) security. These strategies primarily target reductions in suicide, self-harm, violence, and falls.

The Joint Commission implemented medication management titration standards in 2017, with revisions in 2020. Researchers surveyed critical care nurses about their experiences with medication titration, use of clinical judgment when titrating, nurses’ scope and autonomy, and their moral distress. Of 781 respondents, 80% perceived the titration standards caused delays in patient care and 68% reported suboptimal care, both of which significantly and strongly predicted moral distress.

Nurse staffing levels have been shown to impact patient outcomes. Through an umbrella literature review and expert interviews, researchers developed a list of nurse-sensitive patient outcomes (NSPO). This list provides researchers potential avenues for future studies examining the link between nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes.

The care of child abuse victims is affected by resource, racial and infrastructure challenges. This commentary describes how the systemic weaknesses catalyzed by poor data collection approaches contribute to misdiagnosis and suggests that successes be mined to minimize the proliferation of continued disparities in this patient population.

Improving maternal safety is a priority patient safety issue. Using the Global Trigger Tool, researchers found that nearly three-quarters of adverse events in one labor ward in a Swedish hospital were preventable. Common events included lacerations and anesthesia-related events and often resulted in a prolonged hospital stay.

Diagnostic safety is a patient safety priority across all medical specialties. Over a five-year period, researchers found that 15% of patients referred for psychosomatic consultations at one university hospital were misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosis was primarily attributed to availability bias or other biases. Semi-structured interviews with referring physicians highlight the contributing role of physician attitudes and unusual clinical features.

Building on prior research, this study found that medication errors are common in patients starting new oral anticancer therapy. Nearly two-thirds of these medication errors involved concomitantly administered medications (e.g., other prescribed drugs, over-the-counter medications).

This commentary discusses Dr. Lucian Leape’s new book and highlights the ongoing challenges to sustained quantifiable progress to improving patient safety, including misguided metrics, equipment design issues, persistence of fear and blame culture, burnout and shortages of nurses, primary care and other essential workers.

Alert fatigue is a known contributor to medical error. In this cross-sectional study, researchers found that custom alerts were responsible for the majority of alert burden at six pediatric health systems. This study also compared the use of different alert burden metrics to benchmark burden across and within institutions.

Patient complaints can identify opportunities for patient safety improvement. This study explored whether an existing tool for measuring the severity of patient complaints – the Healthcare Complaints Analysis Tool – can effectively analyze complaints specific to general practice. Key issues identified by the study involved relationships (e.g., communication, patient rights) as well as clinical and management issues.

Checklists are widely used to improve patient safety, including reductions in catheter-related bloodstream infections and surgical morbidity and mortality. This study focuses on implementation of the 2015 World Health Organization Safe Childbirth Checklist (SCC) which aims to prevent maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Twenty-nine participants from fifteen countries with SCC experience completed a survey and twelve were interviewed. Most reported adapting the SCC for their local setting and a wide variety of implementation strategies were used.

The electronic medication administration record (eMAR) is one technologic strategy to improve medication safety. In this study, usability issues related to eMAR contributed to 473 patient safety event reports. Eight usability challenge categories were identified (e.g. alerts and interoperability). Among these usability challenges, special attention should be paid to workflow and display/visual clutter.

In 2020, the World Health Organization prioritized healthcare worker safety as a way to maintain patient safety. This article describes several initiatives aimed at protecting surgeons, patients and healthcare workers implemented since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The term “second victim” refers to a healthcare professional who was involved in a medical error and subsequently experiences psychological distress. An American children’s hospital implemented a peer support program for “second victims” in 2019. Healthcare providers were surveyed before and after implementation of the program with results showing the highest ranked option for support following a traumatic clinical event is peer support. Most respondents indicated they were likely to use the program if a future clinical event were to occur.