Look-alike and sound-alike drug names are a perpetual cause for confusion that decreases medication safety. This article discusses the results of a national survey on the importance of mixed case drug names, which found that 94% of the 298 respondents reported using mixed case drug names in their organization and that the majority of participants felt that mixed case lettering prevents drug selection events. The survey also identified new drug names for inclusion on the 2023 list revision.

Lack of access to obstetric care impedes safe treatment for mothers. This story describes challenges one mother experienced in finding care during a miscarriage due to abortion policies and the steps she and her family took to manage her condition.

A variety of factors can decrease the safety of community pharmacy practice such as production pressure and fatigue. This webinar will discuss a new set of best practices for community pharmacy to address common problems that reach patients and cause harm.

Racial and ethnic inequalities are emerging as a primary contributor to harmful maternal care. This guidance examines obstacles to safe care for mothers of color and shares recommendations to reduce disparities such as team-based care and implicit bias training.

Telemedicine efforts harbor both risk and reward to patients and providers. The AHRQ Safety Program for Telemedicine is a national effort to develop and implement a bundle of evidence-based interventions designed to improve telemedicine care in two settings—the cancer diagnostic process and antibiotic use. To test the bundle of interventions, the program will involve two cohorts of healthcare professionals who utilize telemedicine as a care delivery model. It is an 18-month program, beginning in June 2023, that seeks to improve the cancer diagnostic process for patients who receive some or all of their care through telemedicine. Recruitment webinars start in late January and run through early May 2023; the antibiotic use cohort will begin recruitment in December 2023. 

The REPAIR (REParations and Anti-Institutional Racism) Project at the University of California, San Francisco, aims to repair racial injustices in medical care and research. This article discusses the development of the initiative, the three annual themes (reparations, abolition, decolonization), and outcomes from its first year.

This site provides data and analysis from two Oregon Patient Safety Commission patient safety initiatives: the Patient Safety Reporting Program (PSRP) and Early Discussion and Resolution (EDR) effort. The review of 2021 PSRP 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 2022 EDR analysis discusses the uptake of the program to generate conversations with patients and providers after a patient safety incident occurred.

This website provides resources for promoting patient safety during Patient Safety Awareness Week. The 2023 observance will be held March 12-18. 

The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are one of the major methods by which The Joint Commission establishes standards for ensuring patient safety in all health care settings. In order to ensure health care facilities focus on preventing major sources of patient harm, The Joint Commission regularly revises the NPSGs based on their impact, cost, and effectiveness. Major focus areas include promoting surgical safety and preventing hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, inpatient suicide, and specific clinical harms such as falls and pressure ulcers. The 2023 goals, which include a goal to improve health equity, are now available.