All Content

The inherent power imbalance between supervisors and new clinicians may inhibit new clinicians from asking questions or reporting mistakes. This lack of psychological safety can result in patient harm and restrict learning. This article provides strategies for healthcare educators and leaders to model and guide a safer organization. Three phases of the supervisor-learner relationship, along with suggested prompts, are provided.

Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics to treat viral illnesses is an ongoing patient safety threat. This study examined the association between clinician depression, anxiety, and burnout and inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics for acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in outpatient care. Depression and anxiety, but not burnout, were associated with increased adjusted odds of inappropriate prescribing for RTIs.

Early warning systems (EWS) use patient data from the electronic health record to alert clinicians to potential patient deterioration. Twelve months after a new EWS was implemented in one hospital, nurses were interviewed to gather their perspectives on the program experience, utility, and implementation. Six themes emerged: timeliness, lack of accuracy, workflow interruptions, actionability of alerts, underappreciation of core nursing skills, and opportunity cost.

The term “second victims” describes clinicians who experience emotional or physical distress following involvement in an adverse event. Nurses and midwives were interviewed about “moving on” from the impact of a critical incident. Five main themes were identified: Initial emotional and physical response, the aftermath, long-lasting repercussions, workplace support, and moving on. Lack of organizational support exacerbated the nurses’ and midwives’ responses.

Social distancing policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic challenged healthcare system leaders and providers to balance infection prevention strategies and providing collaborative, team-based patient care. In this article, four primary care clinics made changes to the clinic design, operational protocols, and usage of spaces. Negative impacts of these changes, such as fewer opportunities for collaboration, communication, and coordination, were observed.

Clinical decision support (CDS) systems are designed to improve diagnosis. Researchers surveyed emergency department physicians about their evaluation of human factors-based CDS systems to improve diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Although perceived usability was high, use of the CDS tool in the real clinical environment was low; the authors identified several barriers to use, including lack of workflow integration.

Alert fatigue contributes to task burden and can threaten patient safety. In this study, researchers at one academic medical center found that machine learning techniques could enable intelligent filtering of medication alerts and reduce alert volume by 54%.

While quality and patient safety initiatives are implemented to improve patient outcomes, they also typically include a financial cost which must be balanced with expected outcomes. This study compared hospitals’ financial performance (i.e., financial margin and risk of financial distress) and outcomes (i.e., 30-day readmission rates, patient safety indicator-90 (PSI-90)) using data from the American Hospital Association and Hospital Compare. Hospitals in the best quintiles of readmission rates and PSI-90 scores had higher operating margins compared to the lowest rated hospitals.

Comprehensive implementation of reporting and learning systems (RLS, also known as incident reporting systems) is important for its successful use as a patient safety improvement tool. This study aimed to develop a set of “implementation patient safety indicator(s) sets” to monitor the extent to which an RLS has been implemented in hospitals. Implementation outcomes include acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, implementation costs, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability. Study participants rated acceptability and sustainability as most relevant to successful implementation.

Difficulty speaking up about patient safety concerns and unprofessional behavior indicates a safety culture deficiency. This article discusses the relationship between silence, burnout, and quality of care, emphasizing how silence evolves during medical education and continues into clinical training, eventually impacting healthcare professional burnout, patient safety and quality of care.

Harm resulting from patient safety incidents can be compounded if investigating responses ignore the human relationships involved. This article describes how compounded harm arises, and it recommends the use of a restorative practices. A restorative approach focuses on (1) who has been hurt and their needs, and who is responsible for addressing those needs, (2) how harms and relationships can be repaired, and avenues to prevent the incident from reoccurring.

Electronic health records (EHR) can improve patient care and safety but are not without potential risks. A cyberattack led to a 25-day shutdown of a hospital’s EHR that necessitated a rapid shift to manual processes. This article outlines the laboratory service’s processes during the shutdown, including patient safety and error reduction, billing, and maintaining compliance with regulatory policies.