All Content

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority is a long-established source of patient safety data analysis and application-focused commentary. Their publishing output aims to generate improvements in their state as well as throughout health care. This open-access publication replaces the quarterly Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory newsletter.

Transitions in care between inpatient and outpatient settings are an increasing concern for patient safety. Reporting on a fatal medication error that was missed by a patient's pharmacist and home health nurses, this newspaper article discusses various risks associated with hospital-to-home transitions such as insufficient case management and communication.

As they become more prevalent, electronic medical records (EMRs) are being used to improve safety in increasingly creative ways. This newspaper article reports on efforts to engage patients in reviewing their medication lists by providing them with access to EMR systems in order to detect and correct discrepancies in data.

This Web site provides access to materials for patient safety improvement efforts in Minnesota, including initiatives to reduce adverse drug events and hospital collaboratives to implement best practices.

This video reveals how checklists can help patients and their families ensure safety during hospital care.

Drawing from surveys of nurses and patients, this article offers tips on how to improve safety during a hospital stay.

This AHRQ-funded toolkit outlines how one Midwestern hospital system successfully implemented a patient advisory council. A companion toolkit illustrates how the council worked with the hospital to develop and implement a medication list initiative.

This report analyzes an incident of medication error that led to a patient's death, discusses the subsequent actions taken by the health board, and calls for a coordinated approach to medication reconciliation in New Zealand.

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

This form can help patients document their prescriptions and other health information prior to visits with health care providers.

This article reports on three patient deaths due to errors at a state-owned nursing home for veterans.

This announcement describes the 19 projects funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2006 that studies the potential of simulation to improve patient safety.

In this article, a nurse shares her firsthand account of what it was like to be a surgical patient and the surprising safety and quality shortcomings she encountered during her hospital stay.

This article reviews the importance of medication reconciliation, discusses the difficulties of building the process into patient care, and shares stories from hospitals that have successfully implemented programs.

This report provides results from a 26-hospital survey investigating areas of service and care weakness in Irish hospitals. The research revealed problems related to information transfer, overwork, and lack of patient involvement in decision making about their care.

In this article, an emergency medicine physician describes the work environment of emergency medical technicians and paramedics and why it is prone to error.