Prior studies have demonstrated that rude behavior undermines patient safety. This study used a smartphone application to collect reports of rudeness directed toward nurses. These data were analyzed in conjunction with the hospital's hand hygiene and medication protocol compliance data as well as adverse event reports to determine if rudeness affected these safety outcomes. Participants also reported whether rudeness incidents influenced their cognition or their teamwork. Although rudeness was associated with worse self-reported cognition and teamwork, investigators did not observe differences in reported adverse events or changes in hand hygiene or medication protocol adherence related to rudeness exposure. A past PSNet perspective discussed how organizations are seeking to rehabilitate persistently disruptive clinicians.

This review summarizes key principles of high quality care and how they can be applied to augment radiology practice. Recommended safety improvement strategies included plan-do-study-act cycles, change management, and balanced scorecards.

Specific medication classes have been deemed potentially inappropriate for older adults due to high risk of adverse drug events. This medical record review study uncovered significant rates of drug–drug interactions and use of potentially inappropriate medications in cancer patients older than 65, consistent with prior studies. The authors suggest that strategies to improve prescribing in older adults are needed.

Many successful patient safety programs involve the use of bundled interventions. For example, the seminal Keystone ICU project combined a checklist with regular data audit and feedback and efforts to improve safety culture. This systematic review of bundled interventions to prevent prescribing errors and medication administration errors in hospitalized children characterized several types of approaches. The authors ultimately determined that the poor quality of existing literature precludes conclusions about effectiveness.

A hospital in the People's Republic of China was able to achieve a significant reduction in medication administration errors through a multidisciplinary quality improvement effort. The initiative included organizational measures, information technology interventions, quality improvement tools, and process optimization.

This study involved nurses, physicians, and pharmacists in a collaborative process to design and implement a high-alert medication list at six Singaporean hospitals. Multiple interventions were implemented to improve safety of these medications, resulting in a significant reduction in adverse drug events.

Comparison of diagnostic methods for acute appendicitis found that a strategy relying on ultrasonography as the initial diagnostic test would minimize diagnostic errors.

Technically inadequate radiographs were responsible for a significant number of missed diagnoses of finger fractures after hand trauma. The authors of this retrospective study propose recommendations to avert this problem.

Adverse drug events occurred in Japanese hospitals at rates comparable to studies from other countries, and the underlying causes also appeared to be similar.

Unplanned readmissions within 30 days of discharge were associated with problems in the quality of care, including inadequate diagnostic workup and diagnostic error.

This study used a log file within a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system to understand the role physician- and policy-related variables, as well as patient resistance, played in responding to electronic reminders about drug duplication orders.

The authors explored how work environment characteristics, demographics, and cultural traits affect the reporting of medication errors by Taiwanese nurses in one hospital and found that fear and administrative barriers negatively influenced this group.