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.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 38 Results

Better off at home--how we fail children with complex medical conditions.

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Newcomer CA. N Engl J Med. 2023;388:198-200.

Children with complex care needs present unique challenges for both parents and clinical teams. This commentary offers a physician-parent’s perspective on weaknesses in the care system that decreased medication safety for her child and also decreased patient-centeredness, including lack of a respect for the family as care team members.

ER doctors misdiagnose patients with unusual symptoms.

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Abelson R. New York Times. December 15, 2022.

Emergency department safety is challenged by factors such as production pressure, burnout, and overcrowding. This news article provides context for the 2022 AHRQ report Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) which synthesized the number of patients harmed while seeking emergency care.

How to Stay Safe When Entering the Healthcare System: A Physician Walks across the Country to Raise Awareness of the Need to Improve Healthcare Safety.

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Meyer DB. Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers; 2022. ISBN:‎ 9781627344067

Individual commitment to patient safety can motivate change. This book highlights an advocacy action by a patient safety leader to generate awareness, engagement, and action using personal, professional, and patient stories of error.

Deep Dive: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Healthcare.

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Plymouth Meeting, PA: ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices; 2022.

Racist behavior directed at either patients or clinicians can degrade the safety of care. This report reviewed over 500 race- or ethnicity-related patient safety incidents to determine the types of actions involved and the role of the individual committing the action. In addition, the impact of the behaviors on the mental health of providers is examined. The report suggests strategies for understanding, detecting, and reducing health disparities.

Medicare fines for high hospital readmissions drop, but nearly 2,300 facilities are still penalized.

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Rau J. Kaiser Health News. November 1, 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated adjustments in activities across health care to address patient care and staffing demands. This news article discusses COVID-19’s impact on the hospital-acquired condition reduction program, and how 43 percent of US hospitals failed to reach readmission goals.

HSIB Maternity Investigation Programme Year in Review 2021/22. Summary of Highlights, Themes and Future Work.

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Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; 2022. HSIB Report no. NI-005831

This report summarizes the work of an independent office that examines maternity care safety lapses in the United Kingdom. It discusses the number of investigations done, criteria for investigation selection and primary improvement themes drawn from the review of 706 investigations in the period covered which include clinical assessment and oversight, care escalation, and fetal monitoring. The report outlines the goal to establish a maternity review effort as an independent entity in 2023.

How Safe is Your Care? Measurement and Monitoring of Safety Through the Eyes of Patients and Their Care Partners.

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Jefs L, Kuluski K, MacLaurin A, et al. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Healthcare Excellence Canada; 2022.

Patient engagement in safety improvement goes beyond activities related to direct care. This report highlights the value that patient perspectives bring to the effort to translate the results of a national measures program to strengthen strategic progress and patient and family program involvement.

Abortion bans have consequences for wanted pregnancies, too.

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Feibel C. Consider This. National Public Radio. August 3, 2022.

Maternal complications risk the health of both mothers and babies, and a variety of circumstances create challenges to this complex care process. This article describes delays in care for a pregnant patient due to legal and policy concerns that threatened the life of the mother.

The Uneven Burden of Maternal Mortality in the U.S.

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NIHCM Foundation. Washington DC: National Institute for Health Care Management. August 2, 2022.

Preventable maternal morbidity is an ongoing challenge in the United States. This infographic shares general data and statistics that demonstrate the presence of racial disparities in maternal care that are linked to structural racism. The resource highlights several avenues for improvement such as diversification of the perinatal staffing and increased access to telehealth.

Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act of 2022.

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117th Cong, 2d Sess (2022)

Strengthening diagnostic error research and training can lead to sustained diagnostic improvement. Expanding upon legislation introduced in 2020, the “Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act of 2022” would establish research centers of diagnostic excellence, an interagency council on improving diagnosis in healthcare, and fellowship and training grants in diagnostic safety, as well as convene an expert panel on diagnostic error measurement and data collection and prioritize stakeholder engagement across all activities.

Independent Neurology Inquiry.

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Lockhart B, Mascie-Taylor H. Crown Copyright: London, England; June 2022. ISBN 9781912313631.

Misdiagnosis of neurological conditions, such as stroke, can lead to delays in treatment and patient morbidity and mortality. This report outlines findings from an inquiry into one misdiagnosis attributed to one neurologist in Ireland and discusses the leadership, system, process, and communication failures which permitted misdiagnoses to go unchecked.

Mind the Implementation Gap. The Persistence of Avoidable Harm in the NHS.

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London UK: Patient Safety Learning: 2022.

Unsafe care affects a wide range of individuals and organizations physically, emotionally, and financially. This report examines large system failures in the UK National Health Service to suggest actions that support learning and improvement. The publication highlights how public investigations, government reports, legal actions, and patient complaints can provide information to support the systems approach required to arrive at safe care.

Deficiencies after the New Electronic Health Record Go-Live at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, WA.

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Washington, DC: VA Office of Inspector General; March 17, 2022.

Electronic health record (EHR) implementation failures cause major disruptions to care delivery that can result in inefficiencies, misinformation, and unsafe care. This three-part investigation examines the impact of the new United States Veterans Affairs EHR system problems on medication management, care coordination, and problem reporting and resolution at one facility.

Evaluation of Quality, Safety, and Value in Veterans Health Administration Facilities, FY 2020.

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Washington, DC: Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General; August 26, 2021. Report No. 21-01502-240.

Organizational assessments often provide insights that address overarching quality and safety challenges. This extensive inspection report shares findings from inspections of 36 Veterans Health Administration care facilities. Recommendations drawn from the analysis call for improvements in suicide death review, root cause analysis result application, and safety committee action item implementation.

Curated Libraries

Maternal Safety

September 13, 2021

Ensuring maternal safety is a patient safety priority. This library reflects a curated selection of PSNet content focused on improving maternal safety. Included resources explore strategies with the potential to improve maternal care delivery and outcomes, such as high reliability, collaborative initiatives, teamwork, and trigger tools.

The Safety of Maternity Services in England.

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Fourth Report of Session 2021–22. House of Commons Health Committee. London, England: The Stationery Office; July 6, 2021. Publication HC 19.

High-profile failures motivate examination and change of existing services. This report builds on maternity care failures in National Health Service trusts to recommend needed changes in learning from failure to effectively support clinicians providing maternity care, provide patient-centered care to mothers and babies, and learn from untoward incidents to enhance care safety.

Do Black and White Patients Experience Similar Rates of Adverse Safety Events at the Same Hospital?

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Gangopadhyaya A. Washington DC; Urban Institute: July 2021.

Racial inequities have been revealed by the COVID pandemic as a distinct patient safety concern. This report examined racial differences using patient safety indicators to measure hospital-acquired conditions, insurance coverage, and hospital patient population. The results indicate Black patients have reduced safety, that insurance coverage had little influence on safety and hospitals with a higher Black patient population experienced more adverse events that those serving a white patient population.

'An ongoing nightmare': people with obesity face major obstacles when seeking medical care.

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Schapiro R. NBC News. June 27, 2021.

System failures cause care delays in a wide range of patient segments. This news story describes barriers to safe, patient-centered care experienced by overweight patients such as bias, ineffective space consideration, and lack of access to screening equipment.

Deficiencies in Emergency Preparedness for Veterans Health Administration Telemental Health Care at VA Clinic Locations Prior to the Pandemic.

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Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General. June 24, 2021. Report No. 19-09808-171.

This report examined veterans' health clinic use of telemental health to identify safety challenges inherent in this approach before the expansion of telemedine during the COVID-19 crisis. The authors note the complexities in managing emergent mental health situations in virtual consultations. Recommendations for improvement included emergency preparedness planning, specific reporting of telemental health incidents and organized access to experts.

Pandemic imperiled non-English speakers more than others.

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Bebinger M. WBUR and Kaiser Health News. April 27, 2021.

Non-English-speaking patients experience barriers to safely navigating the American healthcare system. This story discusses the impact that language and disparities had on care during the pandemic at one health system, and shares outreach communication and translation strategies to improve care safety.

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