The PSNet Collection

Recognizing Excellence in Diagnosis: Recommended Practices for Hospitals.

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Washington, DC: Leapfrog Group; July 2022.

Diagnostic safety is beginning to be established as a systemic, rather than solely an individual performance issue. This report recommends strategies that support systemic work toward diagnostic excellence and selected implementation stories that illustrate success. It is a part of a larger initiative devoted to the improvement of organizational and team activities in tandem with clinical processes to minimize the impact of human error on diagnosis.

Examining the Status of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Program.

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US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. 117th Cong (2021-2022). (July 20, 2022).

Large-scale electronic health record (EHR) implementation projects encompass a myriad of problems to navigate to arrive at success. This Congressional panel explores challenges experienced during EHR implementation in the VA Health system. Panelists from the Veterans Administration, the investigator and the technology vendor involved in the program shared insights and next steps to direct improvement.

Adverse Health Events in Minnesota: Annual Reports.

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St Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Health.

The National Quality Forum has defined 29 never events—patient safety problems that should never occur, such as wrong-site surgery and patient falls. Since 2003, Minnesota hospitals have been required to report such incidents. The 2021 report summarizes information about 508 adverse events that were reported, representing a significant increase in the year covered. Earlier reports document a fairly consistent count of adverse events. The rise reflected here is likely due to demands on staffing and care processes associated with COVID-19. Pressure ulcers and fall-related injuries were the most common incidents documented. Reports from previous years are available.

The New Electronic Health Record’s Unknown Queue Caused Multiple Events of Patient Harm.

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Washington, DC: VA Office of the Inspector General; July 14 2022. Report No. 22-01137-204.

Problems with clinician order delivery can result in harmful care delays. This report discusses how an electronic health record (EHR) system sent thousands of requests for medical care in a large health system to no location rather than to the intended site for care. These misattributions contributed to 142 patient safety events. The analysis highlighted factors contributing to the EHR misdistribution of orders and shared concerns that the organization’s approach to reduce the risk for misrouted orders lacks effectiveness.

Oxford Professional Practice: Handbook of Patient Safety.

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Lachman P, Runnacles J, Jayadev A et al, eds. London, England; Oxford University Press; 2022. ISBN: 9780192846877.

Patient safety needs to routinely involve new professionals to promote improvement. This publication introduces the foundations of patient safety. It aligns with an established curriculum to enhance learning and engage physicians in the application of safety concepts in their daily practice.

Independent Neurology Inquiry.

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Lockhart B, Mascie-Taylor H. Crown Copyright: London, England; June 2022. ISBN 9781912313631.

Misdiagnosis of neurological conditions, such as stroke, can lead to delays in treatment and patient morbidity and mortality. This report outlines findings from an inquiry into one misdiagnosis attributed to one neurologist in Ireland and discusses the leadership, system, process, and communication failures which permitted misdiagnoses to go unchecked.

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.

Under the Skin. The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of our Nation.

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Villarosa L. New York, NT: Doubleday: 2022. ISBN 9780385544887.

Health inequities are receiving increased attention as a patient safety issue. This book examines the persistent problem of systemic racism on the health of Black patients. It summarizes the evidence on how racism affects health care and discusses strategies for improvement such as reducing gaps in implicit bias content in curriculum.

Harm Caused by Delays in Transferring Patients to the Right Place of Care.

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Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; June 2022.

Handoffs between prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) providers and hospital emergency departments (EDs) can be suboptimal, which increases patient harm potential. This interim report examines National Health Service discharge delays. It suggests a systemic approach is needed to address flow and capacity factors that contribute to ineffective and unsafe interfacility discharge and transfer.

Zero: Eliminating Unnecessary Deaths in a Post-pandemic NHS.

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Hunt J. London, UK: Swift Press; 2022. ISBN: ‎ 9781800751224.

The National Health Service (NHS) has been a leader in patient safety for over 20 years, and yet NHS patients still experience harm. This book shares leadership insights from former NHS Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt intended to help the institution reach a place where zero patient harm will occur. The book discusses primary causes of patient harm, the challenge of organizational culture, solutions supporting improvement, and implementation strategies.

Hospital Reporting Program: Annual Summary.

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Oregon Patient Safety Commission.

This annual Patient Safety Reporting Program (PSRP) publication provides data and analysis of adverse events voluntarily reported to the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. The review of 2021 data discusses the impact of the state adverse event reporting program and upcoming initiative to examine how organizational safety effort prioritization affects care in Oregon.

The Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

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Leapfrog Group.

This website offers resources related to the Leapfrog Hospital Survey investigating hospitals' progress in implementing specific patient safety practices. Updates to the survey include increased time allotted to complete computerized provider order entry evaluation, staffing of critical care physicians on intensive care units, and use of tools to measure safety culture. Reports discussing the results are segmented into specific areas of focus such as health care-associated infections and medication errors.

Decontamination of Surgical Instruments.

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Farnborough, UK; Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; May 26, 2022.

Surgical equipment sterilization can be hampered by equipment design, production pressures, process complexity and policy misalignment. This report examines a case of unclean surgical instrument use. It recommends external sterile service assessment and competency review as steps toward improving the reliability of instrument decontamination processes in the National Health Service.

Addressing Health Worker Burnout.

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The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Thriving Health Workforce. Washington DC: Office of the Surgeon General; May 2022.

Health care staff and clinician wellbeing is known to affect safety and quality. This advisory suggests national priorities to target improvement efforts. Areas of focus include workforce shortages, system inequities and burnout.

2022 Updated Results for the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS) Diagnostic Safety Supplemental Items.

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Famolaro T, Hare R, Tapia A, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; April 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 22-0027.

A strong safety culture affects practice and learning in health care. This survey of over 1,000 clinicians and staff in 110 medical offices examined the extent to which elements of safety culture support safe diagnosis. Key findings demonstrate strengths in specialist consultation and test result communication. Identified weaknesses included lack of discussions about misdiagnoses when they occurred.

Adverse Events in Hospitals: A Quarter of Medicare Patients Experienced Harm in October 2018.

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Grimm CA. Washington DC: Office of the Inspector General; May 2022. Report no. OEI-06-18-00400.

In its 2010 report, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found 13.5% of hospitalized Medicare patients experience harm in October 2008. This OIG report has updated the proportion of hospitalized Medicare patients who experienced harm and the resulting costs in October of 2018. Researchers found 12% of patients experienced adverse events, and an additional 13% experienced temporary harm. Reviewers determined 43% of harm events could have been prevented and resulted in significant costs to Medicare and patients.

Declaration to Advance Patient Safety.

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National Steering Committee for Patient Safety. Boston, MA: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; May 2022.

Leadership commitment is crucial to attaining sustainable improvement in patient safety. This “Declaration to Advance Patient Safety” call-to-action shares three steps to motivate work toward implementing change to enhance safe care. First, commit to a national plan for improvement. Second, identify and empower a senior leader and team to assess an organization’s existent safety status. Third, devise plans to measure, design, implement, and support adverse event reduction initiatives.

Global Report on Infection Prevention and Control: Executive Summary.

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Geneva, Switzerland; World Health Organization; May 5, 2022.

Healthcare-acquired infection is a persistent systemic problem. This report recaps the universal status of infection prevention and control (IPC) programs and highlights the influence of nosocomial infection on care provision and public health. The examination states that concerning IPC disparities exist in low-income countries. It reviews the impact of poor infection control, cost-effectiveness of existing efforts, and recommendations to improve and sustain IPC efforts worldwide.

AHRQ Safety Program for Intensive Care Units: Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI: Final Report.

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Molefe A, Hung L, Hayes K, et al. Rockville MD: Agency for healthcare Research and Quality; 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 17(22)-0019.

Central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are a persistent challenge for health care safety. This report shares the results of a 6-cohort initiative to reduce CLABSI and/or CAUTI infection rates in adult critical care. Recommendations for collaborative implementation success are included.

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic to Improve Diagnosis. Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief.

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

The COVID-19 crisis affected most health care processes, including diagnosis. This report recaps a session examining impacts of the pandemic on diagnostic approaches, inequities, and innovations that may inform future diagnostic improvement efforts.

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