The PSNet Collection: All Content

The AHRQ PSNet Collection comprises an extensive selection of resources relevant to the patient safety community. These resources come in a variety of formats, including literature, research, tools, and Web sites. Resources are identified using the National Library of Medicine’s Medline database, various news and content aggregators, and the expertise of the AHRQ PSNet editorial and technical teams.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 251 Results

An Investigation into the Death of Baby J at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.

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Manchester, UK: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman; October 2021.

This report examines a premature infant death associated with failings of antibiotic administration, deterioration recognition and action on family concerns both during treatment and post-incident. The report issues a series of recommendations building on standard remediation guidance in the United Kingdom.

Hospital Performance Report.

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Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

Detailing results of an error reporting initiative in New Jersey, these reports explain how consumers can use this information and provides tips for safety when obtaining health care. A section highlights findings related to patient safety indicators.

Malnutrition in Hospitalized Adults: A Systematic Review.

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Uhl S, Siddique SM, McKeever L, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; October 2021. AHRQ Publication No. 21(22)-EHC035.

Patient malnutrition is an underrecognized threat to patient safety. This report provides a comprehensive evidence analysis on the patient malnutrition literature, the relationship of in-hospital malnutrition to patient harm across patient groups and tactics for measurement of the problem to design and assess the impact of interventions.

The Contribution of Diagnostic Errors to Maternal Morbidity and Mortality During and Immediately After Childbirth: State of the Science.

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Bajaj K, de Roche A, Goffman D. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; September 2021. AHRQ Publication No. 20(21)-0040-6-EF.

Maternal safety is threatened by systemic biases, care complexities, and diagnostic issues. This issue brief explores the role of diagnostic error in maternal morbidity and mortality, the preventability of common problems such as maternal hemorrhage, and the importance of multidisciplinary efforts to realize improvement. The brief focuses on events occurring during childbirth and up to a week postpartum. This issue brief is part of a series on diagnostic safety.

Good for You, Good for Us, Good for Everybody.

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Ridge K. London, England: Crown Copyright; 2021. September 22, 2021.

Overprescribing has attained prominence as a safety issue due to the current opioid epidemic, but it has long reduced medication safety across the spectrum of health care. The report examines the systemic and cultural issues that contribute to overprescribing and recommends a governmental leadership position to drive change and implement deprescribing and other reduction initiatives.

National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report.

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Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; October 2021.

This annual analysis explores rates of health care-associated infections (HAIs) reported in the United States. Data from 2020 revealed increases in central line–associated bloodstream infections and other infections while a decrease in surgical site infections. The current report also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on reporting and data submission efforts.

A Thematic Analysis of HSIB's First 22 Investigations.

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Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; September 9, 2021.

In-depth failure investigations provide improvement insights for individuals and organizations alike. This report analyzes a collection of UK National Health Service incident examinations and provides recommendations for improvement on themes related to care transitions and access, decision making, communication, and point-of-care activity.

Evaluation of Quality, Safety, and Value in Veterans Health Administration Facilities, FY 2020.

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Washington, DC: Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General; August 26, 2021. Report No. 21-01502-240.

Organizational assessments often provide insights that address overarching quality and safety challenges. This extensive inspection report shares findings from inspections of 36 Veterans Health Administration care facilities. Recommendations drawn from the analysis call for improvements in suicide death review, root cause analysis result application, and safety committee action item implementation.

Curated Libraries

Maternal Safety

September 13, 2021

Ensuring maternal safety is a patient safety priority. This library reflects a curated selection of PSNet content focused on improving maternal safety. Included resources explore strategies with the potential to improve maternal care delivery and outcomes, such as high reliability, collaborative initiatives, teamwork, and trigger tools.

The Safety of Maternity Services in England.

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Fourth Report of Session 2021–22. House of Commons Health Committee. London, England: The Stationery Office; July 6, 2021. Publication HC 19.

High-profile failures motivate examination and change of existing services. This report builds on maternity care failures in National Health Service trusts to recommend needed changes in learning from failure to effectively support clinicians providing maternity care, provide patient-centered care to mothers and babies, and learn from untoward incidents to enhance care safety.

Unlocking Solutions in Imaging: Working Together to Learn from Failings in the NHS.

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London, UK: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman; 2021. ISBN 9781528627016.

Lack of appropriate follow up of diagnostic imaging can result in care delays, patient harm, and death. This report summarizes an investigation of 25 imaging failures in the British National Health Service (NHS). The analysis identified communication and coordination issues resulting in lack of action and reporting of unanticipated findings to properly advance care. Recommendations to improve imaging in the NHS include use of previous analyses to enhance learning from failure.

Maryland Hospital Patient Safety Program Annual Report.

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Office of Health Care Quality. Baltimore, MD: Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

This annual report summarizes never events in Maryland hospitals over the previous year. From July 2020-June 2021, reported events increased due to the COVID pandemic. Pressure injuries increased and patient deaths from preventable medical errors doubled in the time period. The authors recommend several corrective actions to build on training and policy changes to guide improvement work, including engaging leadership in safety work and application of high-reliability concepts to enhance safety culture.

Deficiencies in Emergency Preparedness for Veterans Health Administration Telemental Health Care at VA Clinic Locations Prior to the Pandemic.

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Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General. June 24, 2021. Report No. 19-09808-171.

This report examined veterans' health clinic use of telemental health to identify safety challenges inherent in this approach before the expansion of telemedine during the COVID-19 crisis. The authors note the complexities in managing emergent mental health situations in virtual consultations. Recommendations for improvement included emergency preparedness planning, specific reporting of telemental health incidents and organized access to experts.

National Diabetes Inpatient Audit -- Harms.

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Leeds, UK: Health and Social Care Information Centre.

This annual report identified a significant number of medication errors associated with diabetes care in acute hospitals in England and Wales.

Wrong Site Surgery - Wrong Patient: Invasive Procedures in Outpatient Settings.

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Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; June 2021.

Wrong site/wrong patent surgery is a persistent healthcare never event. This report examines National Health Service (NHS) reporting data to identify how ambulatory patient identification errors contribute to wrong patient care. The authors recommend that the NHS use human factors methods to design control processes to target and manage the risks in the outpatient environment such as lack of technology integration, shared waiting area space, and reliance on verbal communication at clinic.

Pathology Oversight Failures at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Arkansas VA.

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Office of Inspector General. June 2, 2021. Report No. 18-02496-157.

Health systems can exacerbate potential risk for patient harm due to clinician impairment and unprofessional activities. This report examines a long-term situation that, due to failure of reporting and other system issues, enabled over 3,000 diagnostic delay injuries stemming from specimen errors associated with one pathologist.

Testing and Labeling Medical Devices for Safety in the Magnetic Resonance (MR) Environment.

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Silver Spring, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health. May 20, 2021.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suites harbor unique hazards that can harm patients, should process missteps occur. This report shares assessment steps to assure that medical devices are labeled appropriately to support their safe use in the MRI environment and encourages organizational reporting of problems encountered when testing device use.

Care and Oversight Deficiencies Related to Multiple Homicides at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

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Washington DC: Department of Veterans Affairs. Office of Inspector General; May 11, 2021. Report No. 20-03593-140.

Health care system failures can enable unrecognized, persistent criminal behavior. This report examines conditions contributing to a serial murder case including weaknesses in mortality data analysis, clinical documentation review, patient safety incident reporting, medication security processes, and safety culture.

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.

Each Baby Counts.

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Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

This organization highlights the importance of in-depth reporting and investigation of adverse events in labor and delivery, involving parents in the analysis, engaging external experts to gain broader perspectives about what occurred, and focusing on system factors that contribute to failures. A WebM&M commentary discusses how lapses in fetal monitoring can miss signs of distress that result in harm. The reporting initiative closed in 2021 after presenting its final report. Investigations in this area will now be undertaken by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch in England.

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