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Missed diagnosis of a dangerous condition in utero, treatment errors, lack of response to concerns raised, and inadequate clinician expertise were among the contributing factors identified in this analysis of the death of a special needs infant at home. The 12 recommendations stemming from the investigation include improvements in disclosure support, clinician communication across facilities, and assignment of accountability when false and misleading statements are made during investigations.

Adverse events in long term care facilities are acerbated due to staffing, training and financial challenges. This report examined the costs of avoidable problems in long term care and suggests prevention strategies that center on workforce skill development and safety culture improvement.

Patient suicide is a never event. This report analyzes the death of a veteran after presenting at an emergency room with suicidal ideation. The analysis found lack of both suicide prevention policy adherence and appropriate assessment, as well as a lack concern for the patient’s condition contributed to the failure.   

Drug shortages result from a variety of systemic failures. This report identifies market demands and financial factors that disrupt medication production. The materials recommend development of shared mental models on the causes of medication shortages and how they affect patients. Legislative and pharmaceutical industry-level quality improvement strategies designed to address systemic weaknesses are reviewed.

The Veterans Health Administration faces various challenges to providing safe care, including poor continuity during transitions to different locations which can result in inappropriate discontinuation of medications that patients require. This government report discuses efforts to reduce gaps in medication access and suggests developing clear policies to prevent patient harm in this population.

This certificate program for laboratory professionals offers six courses aimed at enhancing participants' skills in establishing a just culture, identifying safety hazards, and assessing gaps in processes to reduce risks of specimen management errors.

In this hearing Veterans Affairs leadership provide an update on the current investigation into data and scheduling manipulation in the VA system. The testimonies discuss the scope of the problem, suggest that the culture at the hospitals enabled record falsification to become normalized, and outline actions being taken to address weaknesses in processes and access to care.

This Web site offers a toolkit to improve the safety of handoffs, patient transfers, and post-hospitalization medication use.

The Joint Commission has traditionally focused on accreditation of health care organizations and, through its Joint Commission Resources arm, on quality improvement (QI) in areas related to its accreditation functions. In the first major initiative under the leadership of new president Dr. Mark Chassin, The Joint Commission launched this Center, which will focus on applying rigorous QI methods to improve safety in a number of challenging areas (the first three are hand hygiene, handoff communication, and preventing wrong site surgery) and disseminating the lessons from these efforts. This Web site provides more information about the Center and its goals.

This government report analyzes the National Health Service's efforts to enhance patient safety and recommends improving certain areas, such as adopting technology, analyzing failure, and ensuring both practitioner education and adequate staffing.

This AHRQ grantee announcement lists 13 projects funded to demonstrate effective strategies in identifying and addressing risks and in improving processes in ambulatory care.

This announcement highlights AHRQ funding opportunities in health information technology and change management to reduce diagnostic errors in ambulatory care settings.

This report compiles public and private data to provide insight into the quality and safety of patient care in Australian hospitals.

This article reports on the results from Joint Commission site inspections of five Boston-area hospitals.