The PSNet Collection

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Andreou A. Scientific American. May 26, 2022.

Negative comments and attitudes indicate a lack of professionalism that can affect patient care. This article shares concerns about surgeon biases toward patients who are overweight and calls for clinicians to recognize the problem and address it.

HEAR Her Concerns.

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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maternal harm during and after pregnancy is a sentinel event. This campaign encourages women, families, and health providers to identify and speak up with concerns about maternal care and act on them. The program seeks to inform the design of support systems and tool development that enhance maternal safety.

Preventing home medication administration errors.

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Yin HS, Neuspiel DR, Paul IM, et al. Pediatrics. 2021;148:e2021054666.

Children with complex home care needs are vulnerable to medication errors. This guideline suggests strategies to enhance medication safety at home that include focusing on health literacy, prescriber actions, dosing tool appropriateness, communication, and training of caregivers. A March 18, 2022 webinar will highlight factors contributing to medication errors in the home and outline strategies to reduce their impact.

Achieving Excellence in Cancer 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.

Diagnostic errors remain an ongoing challenge in many medical specialties, including oncology. This workshop reviewed the evidence base examining challenges in cancer diagnosis, discussed suggestions for improvement in the field, and looked toward a safer future for cancer patients.

Patients for Patient Safety US.

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(678) 309-9605; info@pfps.us

Patient safety improvement has made progress but more can be done. This organization supports community efforts in the United States to engage policymakers in work toward aligning efforts to reduce preventable patient harm at a national level. It will build its efforts on the World Health Organization plan by moving forward with a framework to collaborate on a variety of strategies to enhance the safety of health care.

How to seek care for non-covid health issues during the pandemic, and why you shouldn’t delay.

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Bever L, Chiu A. Washington Post. September 16, 2021.

Throughout the COVID pandemic, patients have shown reluctance to seek medical care, which contributes to delayed diagnoses and treatments for non-COVID conditions. This news story suggests actions for patients to take to keep themselves safe from harm while accessing care during uncertain times.

Unite for Safe Care.

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Patient Safety Movement. September 17, 2021.

Patient safety is a global challenge for the health care community. This webinar coincided with World Patient Safety Day and presented two tracks for both the profession and the public that highlighted issues impacting maternal care safety and high reliability. Those who have lost their lives to medical error were also honored during the event. The session speakers included Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, Jeff Brady, MD, and Albert Wu, MD.

Racism and Health.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ethnic and social inequities have a substantial impact on the safety and effectiveness of health care. This US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiative provides access to science, CDC actions, and expert insights on the value of public health efforts to reduce the impact of systemic racism on health in the United States.

Take Charge: 5 Steps to Safer Healthcare.

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Wantagh, NY; Pulse Center for Patient Safety, Education & Advocacy.

Patients can be active partners in their own safe care. This five-step program provides information and education for patients on topics such as advance directives, medication records, and visit preparation as strategies to improve patient safety.

Endometriosis affects 1 out of 10 women like me. Yet it often takes a decade to get diagnosed.

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Peikoff L. NBC News. March 31, 2021.

Patients with endometriosis often experience care delays and misdiagnoses that contribute to harm. This news story discusses a patient’s experience with common contributors to delay that include Insufficient clinical knowledge of the disease and a lack of uniform treatment guidance.

Covid-19 surge could lead to another drop in patient visits, doctors fear—and more missed pediatric cancers.

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Cooney E. StatNews. December 10, 2020.

Timely and proactive medical visit behavior is tenuous due to the repeat surges of the COVID pandemic and the effects on routine care. This article highlights concerns regarding delays in oncology care for pediatric patients.

4 skin conditions doctors often misdiagnose.

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Oglethorpe A. Women's Health. November 4, 2020.

Skin condition diagnosis is a visual activity that is vulnerable to error. This article highlights how conditions such as psoriasis and skin cancer can be misdiagnosed. The piece shares recommendations for patients to obtain an accurate diagnosis such as seeking a second opinion and preparing for appointments with notes and questions.

The slow, troubling death of the autopsy.

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Ashworth S. Elemental. September 22, 2020.

The rate of autopsies – the “gold standard” of death investigation – are decreasing worldwide. This commentary highlights the lost opportunities for hospital and clinician learning from mistakes due this decline. The author ties the relevance of the loss to missed opportunities for understanding the effect of COVID-19 on the body to inform diagnostic, treatment and prevention activities.

Patient Safety

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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Organizations worldwide are focusing efforts on reducing the conditions that contribute to medical error. This website provides a collection of reports and other resources that cover activities and concerns of the 37 member countries active in the organization to address universal challenges to patient safety.

The risks of the prescribing cascade.

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Brody JE. New York Times. 2020.

Inappropriate care activities can cascade to significantly impact patient safety. This article shares how medication side effects can be misdiagnosed to perpetuate harm in older patients rather than getting to the root of the care concerns.

New U.S. health crisis looms as patients without COVID-19 delay care.

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Bernstein S. Reuters. 2020;July 13.

An unintended consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is patient reluctance to seek care, which can contribute to diagnostic and treatment delay. This article discusses the impact of delay on patients with cancer or cardiac conditions and that the ramifications will take time to fully correct.

‘They are terrified’: fearing coronavirus, people with potentially fatal conditions avoid emergency care.

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Bruggeman L, Bhatt J. ABC News. April 23, 2020.

Patient ability to access emergency care is vital for timely and appropriate diagnosis and treatment. This story highlights how patient and family discomfort with going to the emergency room for non-COVID-19 associated conditions that challenge their safety.

Inside the epidemic of misdiagnosed women.

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Rabbitt M. Prevention Magazine. April 9, 2020.

Diagnosis in women is complicated by cultural norms, lack of research on medical conditions affecting women, and implicit bias. The article outlines conditions that are likely to be misdiagnosed in women such as heart disease and breast cancer. The author shares strategies for women to engage in the process to improve diagnostic accuracy.

Do some surgical implants do more harm than good?

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Groopman J. New Yorker Online. April 13, 2020.

Medical devices support quality of life but must be designed appropriately and managed carefully to ensure safety over time. This feature discusses industry processes that reduce the reliability of surgical implants, including gaps and weaknesses in regulatory oversight.

People with disabilities fear pandemic will worsen medical biases.

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Shaprio J. National Public Radio. April 15, 2020.

Access to care has been strained by the COVID-19 pandemic. This radio segment discusses how implicit biases can affect care of patients with disabilities. It highlights how preconceptions about this patient population could limit their access to treatments should they become ill.

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