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 102 Results

Final Report of the Ockenden Review.

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London UK: Crown Copyright; March 30, 2022. ISBN: 9781528632294.

Maternal and baby harm in healthcare is a sentinel event manifested by systemic failure. This report serves as the final conclusions of an investigation into 250 cases at a National Health System (NHS) trust. The authors share overarching system improvement suggestions and high-priority recommendations to initiate NHS maternity care improvement.

The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff.

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2022. ISBN: 9780309686259

Nursing homes face significant patient safety challenges, and these challenges became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report identifies key issues in the delivery of care for nursing home residents and provides recommendations to strengthen the quality and safety of care delivery, such as improved working conditions, enhanced minimum staffing standards, improving quality measurement, and strengthening emergency preparedness.

Deficiencies after the New Electronic Health Record Go-Live at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, WA.

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Washington, DC: VA Office of Inspector General; March 17, 2022.

Electronic health record (EHR) implementation failures cause major disruptions to care delivery that can result in inefficiencies, misinformation, and unsafe care. This three-part investigation examines the impact of the new United States Veterans Affairs EHR system problems on medication management, care coordination, and problem reporting and resolution at one facility.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do Black and White Patients Experience Similar Rates of Adverse Safety Events at the Same Hospital?

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Gangopadhyaya A. Washington DC; Urban Institute: July 2021.

Racial inequities have been revealed by the COVID pandemic as a distinct patient safety concern. This report examined racial differences using patient safety indicators to measure hospital-acquired conditions, insurance coverage, and hospital patient population. The results indicate Black patients have reduced safety, that insurance coverage had little influence on safety and hospitals with a higher Black patient population experienced more adverse events that those serving a white patient population.

Making Healthcare Safe: The Story of the Patient Safety Movement.

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Leape LL. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature; 2021. ISBN: 9783030711252.

The publication of “Error in Medicine” by Dr. Lucian Leape marked a pivotal step in the launch of the modern patient safety movement. In this publication, Dr. Leape shares insights stemming from his notable career in safety to outline milestones in the current effort to reduce patient harm due to medical mistakes.

Peer Review of a Report on Strategies to Improve Patient Safety.

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Washington DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; 2021. ISBN: 9780309462808.

The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 requires the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in consultation with the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to prepare a report for Congress on effective strategies for reducing medical errors and increasing patient safety and on measures to encourage the appropriate use of such strategies. The Act also requires that a draft of the report be made available for public comment and review by the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)). This publication reflects NAM’s review of the draft report. HHS is in the process of preparing a final report due to Congress in December 2021.

Could Efforts to Fight the Coronavirus Lead to Overuse of Antibiotics?

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Issue Brief. Washington DC: Pew Charitable Trust; March 2021.

Antibiotic overuse is a contributor to nosocomial infection. This report discusses problems associated with antibiotic prescribing during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Systemic problems arising from the situation include disparities associated with antibiotic administration and unneeded receipt of medications by some patients.

National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report: Chartbook on Patient Safety.

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Azam I, Gray D, Bonnett D et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; February 2021. AHRQ Publication No. 21-0012.

The National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports review analysis specific to tracking patient safety challenges and improvements across ambulatory, home health, hospital, and nursing home environments. The most recent Chartbook documented improvements in approximately half of the patient safety measures tracked. This set of tools includes summaries drawn from the reports for use in presentations to enhance distribution and application of the data.

Patient Safety Recommendations for COVID-19 Epidemic Outbreak: 3.0

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La Regina M, Tanzini M, Venneri F, et al for the Italian Network for Health Safety. Dublin, Ireland: International Society for Quality in Health Care; 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a rapidly evolving situation that requires a system orientation to diagnosis, management and post-acute care to keep clinicians, patients, families and communities safe. This set of recommendations is anchored on a human factors approach to provide overarching direction to design systems and approaches to respond to the virus. The recommendations focus on team communication and organizational culture; the diagnostic process; patient and family engagement to reduce spread; hospital, pediatric, and maternity processes and treatments; triage decision ethics; discharge communications; home isolation; psychological safety of staff and patients, and; outcome measures. An appendix covers drug interactions and adverse effects for medications used to treat this patient population. The freely-available full text document will be updated appropriately as Italy continues to respond, learn and amend its approach during the outbreak.

Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management.

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Donaldson L, Ricciardi W, Sheridan S, Tartaglia R, eds. Springer Nature: Cham Switzerland; 2021. ISBN 9783030594022.

Foundations and practical experiences are both necessary to implement and sustain change. This publication introduces core theories supporting patient safety improvement. It couples these concepts with discussions of how these can be applied in clinical areas to reduce factors that contribute to unsafe care.

Incidence of Adverse Events in Indian Health Service Hospitals.

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Office of the Inspector General: Washington DC; December 2020. OIG report OEI-06-17-00530.

Challenges beset safe care delivery for indigenous peoples. This report examines factors contributing to adverse events in this patient population. Recommendations for improvement include an emphasis on harm monitoring and incident reporting. A related report examines the lack of application of maternity best practices in the Indian Health Service.

ACGME Summary Report: The Pursuing Excellence Pathway Leaders Patient Safety Collaborative.

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Passiment M, Wagner R, Weiss KB for the Pursuing Excellence in Clinical Learning Environments: Pathway Leaders Patient Safety Collaborative. Chicago, IL: Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. September 30, 2020. ISBN: 978-1-945365-36-2.

The clinical learning environment (CLE) situates the development of safety behaviors in resident and fellow physicians, students, and staff. This report highlights results of an 18-month collaborative to design tactics that engage resident and fellows in patient safety work through event analysis. Lessons learned supporting success include assessment of the learner experience and dedication of time to enable participation.

Investigation into Management of Venous Thromboembolism Risk in Patients Following Thrombolysis for an Acute Stroke.

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Farnborough, UK; Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch. October 2020

Errors of omission in routine care can result in patient harm. This report discusses factors contributing to a pulmonary embolism in a recovering stroke patient acerbated by a lack of intended but omitted venous thromboembolism or VTE preventative care. The system improvement recommendations drawn from the incident analysis include that the UK National Health Service develop a standardized approach to VTE risk assessment and broad-based training to enable a cross-section of clinicians to use VTE prevention devices as required.

System Governance Towards Improved Patient Safety: Key Functions, Approaches and Pathways to Implementation.

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Auraaen A, Saar K, Klazinga N for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Publishing, Paris, France; 2020. OECD Health Working Papers, No. 120.

Policies, laws, and guidelines aid organizations to develop, prioritize and achieve patient safety goals. This report examined a 25-country analysis of patient safety governance efforts and found that learning and non-punitive approaches are strategies being progressively implemented worldwide.

Special Section: Event Analysis and Risk Management.

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Alemi F ed. Qual Manag Health Care. 2020;29(4):232-278.

Adverse event analysis is core for organizational learning from poor performance. This special section discusses how examination tools such as failure mode and effect analysis and root cause analysis may be amended to optimize how lessons can be drawn from failure to inform improvement.

Global Report on the Epidemiology and Burden of Sepsis: Current Evidence, Identifying Gaps and Future Directions.

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Geneva, Switzerland; World Health Organization: September 2020. ISBN 9789240010789.

Sepsis diagnosis, prevention and treatment are global challenges. This report discusses sepsis management with a focus toward understanding its impact on distinct populations to inform research and policy improvement approaches.

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