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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Curated Libraries

Patient as a Team Member in Clinical Care

October 23, 2023

This curated library highlights concepts associated with the patient as a partner for safety at the team level directly connected to personal clinical encounters.

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. During fiscal year 2022, reported events increased due to the COVID pandemic, workforce shortages and other system demands. Events contributing to patient deaths and severe harm from preventable medical errors during the time period doubled. The authors recommend several corrective actions to enhance improvement work, including board and executive leadership engagement in safety work and application of high-reliability concepts to enhance safety culture.

Canadian Patient Safety Week.

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Healthcare Excellence Canada.

This site provides promotional materials and registration information for an awareness campaign on patient safety that takes place in the autumn. The annual observance will take place October 23-27, 2023.

TeamSTEPPS Core Curriculum.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; July 2023.

The TeamSTEPPS® program was developed to support effective communication and teamwork in health care. The curriculum offers training for participants to implement TeamSTEPPS® in their organizations. The 3.0 version of the material has an increased focus on patient engagement and a broader range of clinical, administrative and leadership roles. The course includes updated evidence reviews, trainer guidance, measurement tools, a pocket guide quick reference to keyTeamSTEPPS® concepts and tools, and new patient videos.

Diagnostic Safety Across Transitions of Care Throughout the Healthcare System: Current State and a Call to Action.

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Santhosh L, Cornell E, Rojas JC, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2023. AHRQ Publication No. 23-0040-1-EF.

Care transitions present opportunities for errors. This issue brief highlights the risk of diagnostic errors during transitions in care, such as from the emergency department to the inpatient floor or from inpatient to outpatient care. The brief describes strategies to prevent and reduce these errors, such as diagnostic feedback or structured handoff tools.

Challenge Competition: Impact of Patient Safety Tools.

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. 2023.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers many practical tools and resources to help healthcare organizations, providers, and others make patient care safer These tools are based on research, and they can assist staff in hospitals, emergency departments, long-term care facilities, and ambulatory settings to prevent avoidable complications of care. The purpose of this challenge is to elicit new narratives of how AHRQ toolkits are being used. Up to ten winners will receive $10,000 each. Submissions are due October 27, 2023.

Guiding Principles to Achieve Continuity in Medication Management.

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Department of Health and Aged Care. Canberra ACT: Commonwealth of Australia; 2022. ISBN 978-1-76007-471-5.

Originally published in 2005, these Guiding Principles outlines 10 guiding principles to support medication management as patients transfer from one care environment to another, both within one care setting (e.g., hospital) and between care settings (e.g., hospital to long term care). The Guiding Principles are person centered, equity, and coordination and collaboration.

Curated Libraries

Diagnostic Safety

October 10, 2022

Selected PSNet materials for a general safety audience focusing on improvements in the diagnostic process and the strategies that support them to prevent diagnostic errors from harming patients.

Multiple Failures in Test Results Follow-up for a Patient Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer at the Hampton VA Medical Center in Virginia.

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Washington, DC: VA Office of the Inspector General; June 28, 2022. Report No 21-03349-186.

Cancer test communication failures can contribute to physical, emotional, and financial patient harm. This report examines missed opportunities made by multiple clinicians involved in the care of a patient with prostate cancer who then died from metastasized disease. Seven recommendations are included for improving abnormal test result communication and error management at the facility.

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.

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.

Deficiencies in Inpatient Mental Health Care Coordination and Processes Prior to a Patient's Death by Suicide, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.

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Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General. January 5, 2021. Report No. 20-01521-48.

This investigation examined care coordination, screening and other factors that contributed to a patient death by suicide shortly after discharge from a Veteran’s Hospital. Event reporting, disclosure and evaluation gaps were identified as process weaknesses to be addressed.

The Economics of Patient Safety Part III: Long-term Care: Valuing Safety for the Long Haul.

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de Bienassis K, Llena-Nozal A, Klazinga N for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Paris, France: OECD Publishing; 2020. OECD Health Working Papers, No. 121.

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.

Deficiencies in Care, Care Coordination, and Facility Response to a Patient Who Died by Suicide, Memphis VA Medical Center in Tennessee.

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Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General; September 3, 2020. Report No 19-09493-249.

Discontinuities in mental health care are a patient safety concern. This report analyzes how documentation gaps, medication reconciliation problems, and poor care coordination contributed to the suicide of a patient who presented at an emergency room, was screened there, and referred to a clinic for further care that was not completed.

Overview of the Environmental Scan of Primary Care-Based Effort To Reduce Readmissions.

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Hochman M, Bourgoin A, Saluja S, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; March 2019. AHRQ Publication No. 18(19)-0055-EF.

Programs are in place to address hospital discharge process gaps that contribute to readmissions. This report summarizes research on primary care perspectives on reducing readmissions. Interventions identified include automated alerting to primary care providers when patients are hospitalized and the patient-centered medical home model.

Ignoring the Alarms: How NHS Eating Disorder Services Are Failing Patients.

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London, UK: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman; 2017. ISBN: 9781528601344.

Patients with mental health conditions face particular safety challenges. This report describes incidents involving patients with eating disorders who experienced harm while receiving care in National Health Service organizations. Factors that contributed to the failures included poor care coordination, premature discharge, and lack of monitoring. The report discusses gaps in the investigations of these patient deaths and outlines areas of improvement.

Designing and Delivering Whole-Person Transitional Care: Hospital Guide to Reducing Medicaid Readmissions.

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Boutwell A, Bourgoin A , Maxwell J, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; September 2016. AHRQ Publication No. 16-0047-EF.

This toolkit provides information for hospitals to help reduce preventable readmissions among Medicaid patients. Building on hospital experience with utilizing the materials since 2014, this updated guide explains how to determine root causes for readmissions, evaluate existing interventions, develop a set of improvement strategies, and optimize care transition processes.

Actions Needed to Improve Newly Enrolled Veterans' Access to Primary Care.

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Washington, DC: United States Government Accountability Office; March 18, 2016. Publication GAO-16-328.

This analysis found that scheduling problems among patients seeking primary care from Veterans Affairs health systems continue to occur. The report outlines weaknesses in the data collected to measure and evaluate veterans' access to primary care and spotlights the need to develop and disseminate a comprehensive policy for Veterans Affairs schedulers to reduce risk of scheduling errors.

AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. 2nd edition.

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Brega AG, Barnard J, Mabachi NM, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; January 2015. AHRQ Publication No. 15-0023-EF.

The AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, 2nd edition, can help primary care practices implement improvement actions to reduce the complexity of health care, increase patient understanding of health information, and enhance support for patients of all health literacy levels.

Freedom to Speak Up: A Review of Whistleblowing in the NHS.

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Francis R. London, UK: Department of Health; February 2015.

Staff willingness to raise awareness of problems that could affect patient care is an important indicator of safety culture. This publication explores National Health Service (NHS) staff perceptions regarding raising concerns about health care safety. Barriers to speaking up were related to organizational culture, incident management, and legal protection for whistleblowers. The report also suggests measures for NHS organizations to use to help ensure that staff are comfortable raising awareness of patient safety concerns.

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