The PSNet Collection

Honesty and transparency, indispensable to the clinical mission-Parts I-III.

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Brenner MJ, Boothman RC, Rushton CH, et al. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2021;55.

This three-part series offers an in-depth look into the core values of honesty, transparency, and trust. Part 1, Promoting Professionalism, introduces interventions to increase provider professionalism. Part 2, Communication and Transparency, describes the commitment to honesty and transparency across the continuum of the patient-provider relationship. Part 3, Health Professional Wellness, describes the impact of harm on providers and offers recommendations for restoring wellness and joy in work.

Patients went into the hospital for care. After testing positive there for Covid, some never came out.

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Jewett C. Kaiser Health News. November 4, 2021.

Nosocomial infection is a primary concern due to the COVID pandemic. This news story examines instances when inpatients contracted, and sometimes died of, COVID-19 while receiving care for a different condition. It summarizes the challenges associated with collecting adequate data that completely document nosocomial spread of COVID-19 and its impact on patient outcomes.

Patient, Medical, and Legal Perspectives of Unsafe Care.

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Patient Safety Movement. October 29, 2021.

Effective response to medical harm involves a variety of perspectives that are aligned in purpose. This webinar discussed how different stakeholders might view approaches to medical error management. It described how strategies have changed from paternalistic to inclusive processes that consider the impact of mistakes on patients and families and the role of communication is key to achieving fair and honest resolution to adverse incidents.

Why an open disclosure procedure is and is not followed after an avoidable adverse event.

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Carrillo I, Mira JJ, Guilabert M, et al. J Patient Saf. 2021;17:e529-e533.

While prior research has shown patients want disclosure of adverse events, healthcare providers may still be hesitant to disclose and apologize. Factors that influence providers’ willingness to disclose errors and apologize include organizational support, experience in communicating errors, and expectations surrounding patient response. A culture of safety and a clear legal framework may increase providers’ willingness to disclose errors and apologize.

From implementation to sustainment: a large-scale adverse event disclosure support program generated through embedded research in the Veterans Health Administration.

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Elwy AR, Maguire EM, McCullough M, et al. Healthc (Amst). 2021;8:100496.

Disclosure of medical errors is supported by both patients and providers. Following the implementation of the Veterans Health Administration’s policy on disclosing medical errors to patients and their families, it was necessary to determine the effects of implementation (or not) of this policy. This article describes the development, implementation, and sustainment of an error disclosure toolkit for use across the VA system.

Use systems redesign and the law to prevent medical errors and accidents.

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Saks MJ, Landsman S. Stat News. August 4, 2021.

This article introduces the systemic task of medical error reduction and discusses the need for a business case, enterprise-wide accountability and legal process change to drive improvement.

Patient Safety Article Collection.

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American Patient Rights Association

This resource collection highlights news items that examine the potential for patients to be put at risk for emotional, financial, or physical harm.

Medication Errors in Retail Pharmacies: Wrong Patient, Wrong Instructions.

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July 28, 2021

This commentary presents two cases highlighting common medication errors in retail pharmacy settings and discusses the importance of mandatory counseling for new medications, use of standardized error reporting processes, and the role of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) in medical decision-making and ensuring medication safety.

The role of apology laws in medical malpractice.

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Ross NE, Newman WJ. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. Epub 2021 May 21.

Open disclosure of errors and adverse events is increasingly encouraged in healthcare, but clinicians frequently cite fear of malpractice lawsuits as a reason to avoid apologizing for an error. This commentary summarizes the relationship between apologies and malpractice, the emergency of apology laws in the United States, and research exploring the impact of apology laws on malpractice claims and patient outcomes.

Leadership To Improve Diagnosis: A Call to Action.

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Rosen M, Ali KJ, Buckley BO, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2021. AHRQ Publication No. 20(21)-0040-5-EF.

The mindset on diagnostic error improvement has gone from a focus on individual skills to that of system factors. This issue brief highlights the influence health system executives have on amending the care environment to facilitate the most effective environment for diagnostic accuracy. This is part of a publication series examining diagnostic improvement across health care.

Medical Office Survey: 2020 User Database Report.

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Famolaro T, Hare R, Thornton S, et al. Surveys on Patient Safety CultureTM (SOPSTM). Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; March 2020. AHRQ Publication No. 20-0034.

A vibrant culture of safety is critical to achieving high reliability in health care. Ambulatory practices with weaker safety cultures can experience problems in teamwork, diagnosis, and staff turnover. The AHRQ Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture was designed to evaluate safety culture in outpatient clinics. The 2020 comparative database report assessed 10 safety culture domains in 1,475 medical offices. Respondents reported effective patient follow-up practices and scored well on equitable care delivery. Many practices cited time pressure and workload as persistent challenges to safety hazards. Although the practices surveyed are not nationally representative, they do provide a comparative safety culture snapshot for industry assessment. A past WebM&M commentary discussed safety hazards associated with productivity pressures in health care.

Communication and Transparency as a Means to Strengthening Workplace Culture During COVID-19.

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Nadkarni A, Levy-Carrick NC, Kroll DS, et al. National Academy of Medicine; 2021.

Communication within teams is central to safe care delivery, crisis management, and staff well-being. This report shares the experience of one hospital that used technology to enhance information-sharing as a strategy to reduce clinician burnout in times of uncertainty and crisis.

System issues leading to "found-on-floor" incidents: a multi-incident analysis.

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Shaw J, Bastawrous M, Burns S, et al. J Patient Saf. 2021;17:30-35.

Patients who have fallen in their homes and are found by a home healthcare worker are referred to as “found-on-floor” incidents. This study found that length of stay was a key theme in found-on-floor incidents and signaled underlying system-level issues, such as lack of informational continuity across the continuum of care (e.g., lack of standard documentation across settings, unclear messaging regarding clients’ home care needs), reliance on home healthcare workers instead of rehabilitation professionals, and lack of fall assessment follow-up. The authors recommend systems-level changes to improve fall prevention practices, such as use of electronic health records across the continuum of care and enhanced accountability in home safety.

How U.S. teams advanced communication and resolution program adoption at local, state and national levels.

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LeCraw FR, Stearns SC, McCoy MJ. J Patient Saf Risk Manag. 2021;26:34-40.

Healthcare systems have implemented communication-and-resolution programs (CRPs) to respond and disclose serious errors and adverse events. This article describes methods used by nine teams of CRP advocates to encourage adoption and endorsement by hospitals and national medical societies at the national, state, and local levels.

Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Benefits and Challenges of Technologies to Augment Patient Care.

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Washington DC; United States Government Accountability Office; November 26, 2020. Publication GAO-21-7SP.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance the safety and reliability of clinical and administrative functions. This US Government Accountability Office report outlines barriers impacting the widespread use of AI, such as privacy concerns and lack of development transparency. Collaboration and oversight are areas of policy focus highlighted to address these challenges.

AI is wrestling with a replication crisis.

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Heaven WD. MIT Technology Review. November 12, 2020.

Lack of transparency of research and development processes are thought to undermine the value of artificial intelligence (AI) and trust in its conclusions. This story highlights concerns generated by AI research examining breast cancer screening. The author discusses how the lack of transparency, while understandable due to proprietary concerns, may reduce the safety of the tools as they are tested for use.

Safety investigations from across the pond: deep learning from England’s Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB).

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ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute Care Edition. October 8, 2020;25(20):1-4

In-depth investigations provide multidisciplinary insights that inform sustainable improvement opportunities. This newsletter story highlights a drug administration error examination by a dedicated office in the United Kingdom highlight the value of a commitment to deep, non-punitive analysis of patient safety incidents to enable transparency and learning.

‘You’re going to release him when he was hurting himself?’

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Dahlberg B. Kaiser Health News. September 29, 2020.

This story discusses failures related emergency psychiatric assessment, including premature discharge, implicit bias, patient management discontinuity and inappropriate physical restraint that contributed to the death of a patient at risk for suicide.

Why accountability sharing in health care organizational cultures means patients are probably safer.

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Eng DM, Schweikart SJ. AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(9):e779-e783.

The recognition that humans err and the situation of response to error in a constructive and nonpunitive light are central to achieving safe patient care. This article discusses how implementation of just culture principles can assign accountability appropriately while encouraging disclosure and improvement when mistakes occur.

Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety.

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Boston, MA: Institute for Healthcare Improvement: September 2020.

This National Action Plan developed by the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety – a group of 27 national organizations convened by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement – provides direction for health care leaders and organizations to implement and adapt effective tactics and supportive actions to establish the recommendations laid out in the plan. Its areas of focus include culture, leadership, and governance, patient and family engagement, workforce safety and learning systems.

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