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.

Communication failures are a common cause of patient harm. This qualitative study found that potentially ambiguous language is common in surgical training settings. In addition to creating challenges for trainee comprehension of surgical instruction, ambiguous language can lead to miscommunications and near misses.

Previous studies have used virtual patient cases to help trainees and practicing physicians improve diagnostic accuracy. Using virtual patients, this study found that brief lectures combined with 9 hours of supervised deliberate practice improved the ability of medical interns to correctly diagnose dizziness.

Nurses play a critical role in ensuring patient safety. This study explored the association between the organization of nursing services and patient safety incidents in rehabilitation units. Findings highlight the key role of appropriate nurse staffing in reducing the incidence of events such as falls and medication errors

In this qualitative study, researchers explore physician, nurse, and patient perspectives about what features constitute “good” and “poor” care episodes. Participants highlighted the importance of quickly identifying and responding to errors and failures as one key component of good quality care.

In an effort to address increased patient demand and resulting patient safety concerns, England implemented a policy of general practitioners working in or alongside emergency departments. Thirteen hospitals using this service model were included in this study to explore care processes and patient safety concerns. Findings are grouped into three care processes: facilitating appropriate streaming decisions, supporting GPs’ clinical decision making, and improving communication between services.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Efforts to improve diagnosis recognize the value in patient-centered care. This commentary outlines how a diagnostician can enfold patient centeredness into their practice, which includes the seeking of knowledge and moderation of actions taken to arrive at a diagnosis. This piece is part of a series on diagnostic excellence.

Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) for older adults carry a high risk of adverse drug events. Using a sample of Medicare beneficiaries from 2015 to 2018, researchers assessed the impact of state scope of practice regulations for nurse practitioners (NPs) on PIM prescribing patterns compared to primary care physicians. Findings indicate that the PIM prescribing rate is lower in states with full NP practice and lower among NPs than among physicians.

This article discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nursing care, highlighting implications on hospital-acquired infections, patient safety events (such as falls and medication errors), and patient mental health.

Building on prior research on missed myocardial infarction, this study used the SPADE approach to identify delays in sepsis diagnosis. Using claims data, researchers used a ‘look back’ analysis to identify treat-and-release emergency department (ED) visits in the month prior to sepsis hospitalizations and identify common diagnoses linked to downstream sepsis hospitalizations.

Communication in healthcare is essential but can be complicated, particularly when there are language barriers between providers and patients. This study evaluated a hospital-wide care transitions program, with a goal of universal contact with discharged patients to identify and address care transition problems. Researchers found that the program reached most patients regardless of English proficiency, but that patients with limited English proficiency experienced more post-discharge issues, such as difficulty understanding discharge instructions, medication concerns and follow-up questions, and new or worsening symptoms.