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.

Search All Content

Clear all filter(s)

Clear all filter(s)

Displaying 1 - 20 of 332 Results

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

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Digital Clinical Safety Strategy

Save to Library

NHSX, NHS Digital, NHS England, et al. London, England: Crown Copyright; September 2021.

Digital clinical technologies hold promise for care improvement while contributing to potential failures due to the lack of collective guidance to assess and measure if they are safe. This document provides background on digital safety. It shares an approach that aligns with the United Kingdom system safety strategy to situate its priorities and support the strategy.

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

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Failures in Care Coordination and Reviewing a Patient's Death at the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System in Utah.

Save to Library

Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General. July 29, 2021. Report No. 21-00657-197.

Care coordination effectiveness is tested by time, hierarchy, and practice silos. This report examines allegations affecting medication access enabled by poor communication, workforce absences, and the built environment challenges. While care coordination challenges in this case were unsubstantiated, the report highlights lack of clinical review and inaccurate analysis of patient death as concerns.

The Safety of Maternity Services in England.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Save to Library

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.

Leadership To Improve Diagnosis: A Call to Action.

Save to Library

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.

National Patient Safety Syllabus.

Save to Library

Spurgeon P, Cross S. London, UK; Academy of Medical Royal Colleges: May 2021.

Amending curricula to incorporate the increasing scholarship related to patient safety improvement is a challenge. This strategic curricula supports the implementation of a national United Kingdom initiative through the engagement of educational programs to train health professionals in the foundations of safe care.

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

Save to Library

Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; June 3, 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.

Save to Library

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.

The PSNet Collection: All Content

Search All Content

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The PSNet Collection: All Content

Search All Content

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

PSNet Log in

Submit Your Case

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Case

Continue as a Guest

Already have a PSNet

Account?

New Users