Skip to main content

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.

Search All Content

Search Tips
Selection
Format
Download
Filter By Author(s)
Advanced Filtering Mode
Date Ranges
Published Date
Original Publication Date
Original Publication Date
PSNet Publication Date
Additional Filters
All Resource Types
Approach to Improving Safety
Clinical Area
Safety Target
Selection
Format
Download
Displaying 1 - 20 of 4426 Results
WebM&M Case November 30, 2023

A 67-year-old man with well-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus underwent elective cardiac resynchronization and defibrillator device (CRT-D) implantation. The procedure was successful and he was discharged the next day with instructions to resume his prior medications, including empagliflozin. He presented to the emergency department the following day where he was diagnosed with euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis (eDKA) and he was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) for insulin infusion.

WebM&M Case November 30, 2023

A 38-year-old woman with class 3 obesity required removed of a gastric balloon under general anesthesia. She required a relatively large dose of rocuronium for endotracheal intubation, and she was given intravenous sugammadex (200 mg) at the end of the procedure to reverse the neuromuscular block. A quantitative neuromuscular block monitor was not used, but reliance was placed on clinical signs. Shortly after arrival in the post-anesthesia care unit, she couldn’t move or open her eyes and became jittery with low oxygen saturation.

WebM&M Case November 30, 2023

An 81-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with a gastrointestinal bleed and referred for a diagnostic colonoscopy. The nurse preparing the patient for the colonoscopy mistakenly selected a jug of dialysis liquid rather than a polyethylene glycol solution commonly used to clean the colon for colonoscopy. When the barcode on the jug of dialysis liquid did not scan, the nurse called the hospital pharmacy for assistance and was provided a new barcode via a tube system.

Metz VE, Ray GT, Palzes V, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2023;Epub Nov 6.
In response to the increasing opioid crisis, many medical associations, policy makers, and insurers have argued for dose reductions. However, when doses are reduced too quickly, patients may experience short- and long-term adverse events. Consistent with other studies, dose reductions higher than 30% were associated with higher odds of emergency department visits, opioid overdose, and all-cause mortality in the month following dose reduction.
Cam H, Wennlöf B, Gillespie U, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:1211.
When patients are discharged from the hospital, they (and their informal caregivers) are given copious amounts of information that must also be communicated to their primary care provider. This qualitative study of primary care and hospital physicians, nurses, and pharmacists highlights several barriers to complete and effective communication between levels of care, particularly regarding geriatric medication safety. Barriers include the large number of complex patients and incongruent expectations of responsibility of primary and hospital providers. Support systems, such as electronic health records, can both enable and hinder communication.
Hoffman AM, Walls JL, Prusch A, et al. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2023;Epub Oct 9.
Hospitals must balance costs associated with pharmacist medication reconciliation (e.g., salary) with prevented harm and cost avoidance (e.g., unreimbursed expenses resulting from medication error). This study found an estimate cost avoidance of $47,000 - $231,000 during one month in one hospital. The highest-risk, highest-cost classes were insulin, antithrombotics, and opioids. In resource-limited environments, focusing on the highest-cost classes could avoid significant cost and patient harm.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices sponsors the annual Cheers Awards to recognize both individuals and institutions for their commitment to medication safety. The 2023 awards recognized Susan Donnell Scott PhD for her work focusing on support mechanisms for clinicians involved in medical error.
Winter SG, Sedgwick C, Wallace-Lacey A, et al. Clin Ther. 2023;45:928-934.
The VIONE (Vital, Important, Optional, Not indicated, and Every medication has an indication) tool is used to reduce polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescribing. This article provides an overview of VIONE implementation and dashboards used to track VIONE implementation and its impact on prescribing across over 130 Veterans Health Administration medical centers. Since implementation in 2016, VIONE has led to the discontinuation of over 1.6 million medication orders by more than 15,000 providers.
Arbaje AI, Greyson S, Keita Fakeye M, et al. J Patient Saf Risk Manag. 2023;28:201-207.
Older adult patients and family caregivers face numerous safety challenges when transitioning from the hospital to skilled home health (HH). This article describes how older adults and their family caregivers, HH frontline providers, HH leadership, and HH hospital-based transition coordinators, were engaged to identify best practices to implement the Hospital-to-Home Health Transition Quality (H3TQ) Index. This participatory co-design process identified ways patients, caregivers, and staff differ in how and when to administer the H3TQ Index, confirming the importance of engaging a wide range of stakeholders in design processes.

Galappatthy P, Mair A, Dhingra-Kumar N et al. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2023. ISBN 9789240058897.

Look-alike, sound-alike (LASA) medicines are known contributors to drug errors. This report discusses how name and label similarities degrade care, and the actions organizations and individual practitioners can take to mitigate the potential of LASA medication errors that cause harm. The authors discuss obstacles and enablers to implementing prevention strategies.
Lim PJH, Chen L, Siow S, et al. Int J Qual Health Care. 2023;35:mzad086.
Surgical safety checklists (SCC) are utilized around the world, but checklist completion at the operating room level remains inconsistent. This review summarizes facilitators and barriers to completion. Resistance or endorsement at the individual surgeon level remains a significant factor in SSC completion. Early inclusion of frontline staff in evaluation and implementation supported increased use.
MohammadiGorji S, Joseph A, Mihandoust S, et al. HERD. 2023;Epub Aug 8.
Well-designed workspaces minimize disruptions and distractions. This review and study describes several important ways to improve the anesthesia workspace in the operating room. Recommendations include demarcating an anesthesia zone with adequate space for equipment and storage and that restricts unnecessary staff travel into and through the zone. Each recommendation includes an illustrative diagram, explains its importance, and offers methods to achieve it.

Arnal-Velasco, D, ed. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2023;36(6):649-705.

Adoption of new ideas is necessary to create safety in the perioperative environment. This collection of reviews illustrates relationships and tensions between technology, human factors and safety management that create the sociotechnical system within which technology is used to deliver anesthesia. Topics covered include artificial intelligence, decision making and perioperative deterioration.

ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute Care. November 2, 2023;28(22):1-4.

Intravenous (IV) push medication administration is a primary therapeutic approach where process gaps can result in harm. This article examines existent presence of recognized safe practice education in close to 200 surveyed nursing programs to assess the teaching of standardized practice behaviors at the student level and recommend strategies to embed IV safety into instruction efforts.

Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; September 2023. AHRQ Publication no. 23-0082.

The sharing of data is a core element of a learning health system. AHRQ has released the Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD) Chartbook 2023, which offers an overview of nonidentifiable, aggregated patient safety event and near-miss information, voluntarily reported by AHRQ-listed Patient Safety Organizations across the country between June 2014 and December 2022. The chartbook outlines the extent of harm reported, distribution of patient safety events, near misses, and unsafe conditions. 
Huynh J, Alim SA, Chan DC, et al. Ann Intern Med. 2023;176:1448-1455.
Access to primary care is becoming more challenging, in part due to physicians leaving the field. Twenty-nine states have expanded nurse practitioner (NP) autonomy to increase access. This study compares potentially inappropriate prescribing practices between NPs and primary care physicians (PCP). In the study population, adults aged 65 and older, NPs and PCPs had nearly identical rates of potentially inappropriate prescribing. The authors encourage focusing on improving prescribing practices among all prescribers instead of working to limit prescribing to physicians.
Milic V, Cameron L, Jones C. Br J Nurs. 2023;32:840-848.
Double checking of medication administration one strategy meant to reduce medication errors. In this study, 29 critical care nurses took part in a focus group exploring the barriers to double-checking during medication administration. Participants discussed several challenges, such as patient location (particularly for patients in isolation due to infection control measure), health IT limitations, and unclear roles and responsibilities.

Noguchi Y. Health Shots and All Things Considered. National Public Radio. October 23, 2023.

Drug shortages, while often discussed as a system failure, demonstrate harm at an individual level. This story highlights the work of a patient activist who was inspired by the threat to her daughter’s care posed by a lack of chemotherapy availability, to provide needed medications during system disruptions to keep patients safe.

ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute care edition. October 19, 2023;28(21):1-4.

Process disconnects can cause administration mistakes that lead to harm. This article discusses reasons for holding medications and how workflow issues can contribute to medication temporary stop order problems. Recommendations for improvement include examining electronic health record alerts, assigning one prescriber to oversee medication reconciliation, and instituting a policy on hold orders.