Accidental ingestion of over-the-counter (OTC) cold and cough medicines (CCMs) among children can result in adverse events. This study used national surveillance data to characterize emergency department (ED) visits for harms related to OTC CCM use and discusses differences by patient demographics, intent of use, and concurrent substance use.

This qualitative study explored the long-term impacts experienced by patients and family members involved in medical harm events. Participants described psychological, social/behavioral, and financial impacts and more than half reported ongoing physical impacts.

Building on prior research, this study identified racial differences in voluntarily reported near-miss events. Compared to white patients, black patients had fewer reported events but were more likely to experience near-miss events related to laboratory/specimen handling, blood bank, and safety/security.

Common high-risk medications such as antiplatelets and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have the potential to cause serious patient harm. This randomized trial examined the usefulness of an existing intervention to support safer prescribing in general practice to improve safe high-risk prescribing.

Patients and families increasingly access mobile apps, conversational assistants, and the internet to find information about health conditions or medications. In a follow up to an earlier study, researchers evaluated two approaches to determine the likelihood that patients would act upon the information received from conversational assistants.

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.

Anti-coagulants are classified as high-risk medications due to their potential to cause serious patient harm if not administered correctly. This hospital created a multidisciplinary anticoagulant safety taskforce to reduce errors and improve patient safety. The article describes the implementation process, including the use of the 2017 Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Antithrombotic Therapy tool.

Adverse event reporting by health care providers, including medical trainees, is critical to improving patient safety. At one children’s hospital, graduate medical education (GME) trainees submitted reports of greater severity than pharmacists and nurses, and identified system vulnerabilities not detected by other health care providers, such as errors in transitions of care, diagnosis, and care delays.

Medication errors threaten patient safety and can result in adverse outcomes. This systematic review identified seven types of nursing interventions used to reduce medication administration errors in pediatric and neonatal patients: education programs, medication information services, clinical pharmacist involvement, double checking, barriers to reduce interruptions during drug calculation and preparation, use of smart pumps, and improvement strategies (e.g., checklists, process or policy changes). Meta-analysis pooling results from various types of interventions demonstrated a 64% reduction in medication administration errors.

Patients transferred from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are vulnerable to adverse events. This scoping review identified common extrinsic factors contributing to adverse events among older adults during rehabilitation stays at skilled nursing facilities, including inappropriate medication usage, polypharmacy, environmental hazards, poor communication between staff, lack of resident safety plans, and poor quality of care due to racial bias, organizational issues, and administrative issues.

Surgical site infections (SSI) are a common, yet largely preventable, complication of surgery which can result in increased length of stay and hospital readmission. In this review of 57 studies, the cumulative incidence of SSI was 11% in adult general surgical patients and was associated with increased length of stay (with variation by types of surgery).

Allowing patients to access their own ambulatory clinical health record has benefits such as identification of errors and increased trust. This study focused on risks and benefits of patient access to mental health care records. Experts suggested the benefits would be similar to those seen in primary care, such as increased patient engagement, with the potential additional benefit of reduced stigmatization.

Poor communication between hospital and primary care providers can lead to adverse events, such as hospital readmission. In this study of older adults who required medication-related follow-up with their primary care provider, the discharging provider only sent an adequate request for 60% of patients. Of those patients that did not have an adequate request, 14% had a related hospital revisit within 6 months.

This study investigated the relationship between hospital staff perceived sociotemporal structures, safety attitudes, and work-related well-being. The researchers identified that hospital “pace” plays a central role in understanding that relationship, and a focus on “pace” can significantly improve staff well-being and safety attitudes.

While leaders and supervisors are responsible for ensuring a professional and respectful work environment, some may display disruptive and unprofessional behavior themselves. This systematic and critical review of abusive supervision research identified four major challenges facing the field, explaining how each challenge has limited past research, and offers recommendations for future research.

Defining and measuring patient safety is an ongoing challenge. This systematic review explored international approaches to defining serious reportable patient safety incidents. Findings indicate wide variation in terminology and reporting systems among countries which may contribute to missed opportunities for learning. Serious reportable patient safety events were commonly defined as being largely preventable; having the potential for significant learning; causing serious harm or having the potential to cause serious harm; measurable and feasible to report, and; running the risk of recurrence.