Surgical site infections (SSIs) remain a significant cause of preventable post-operative morbidity and mortality. This narrative review summarizes modifiable and nonmodifiable patient-related factors. It also evaluates modifiable operation-related factors associated with surgical site infections, and highlights six pre-, intra-, and postoperative strategies to reduce surgical site infections, including use of the WHO surgical safety checklist.

Effective teamwork is critical for patient safety and numerous training strategies exist for improving team dynamics. The labor and delivery unit of an American hospital offered Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) training to all physicians and nurses on the ward, and assessed perceptions of teamwork and safety both before and six months after training. Results were mixed, and physician and nurse perceptions of safety significantly differed.

An accurate understanding of the frequency, severity, and preventability of adverse events is required to effectively improve patient safety. This study included review of more than 2,800 inpatient records from 11 American hospitals with nearly one quarter having at least one preventable or not preventable adverse event. Overall, approximately 7% of all admissions included at least one preventable event and 1% had a severity level of serious or higher.

Nurse-sensitive outcomes are important indicators of nursing safety. In this retrospective study of 600 patient records from ten Swedish home healthcare organizations, researchers found that 74% of patient safety incidents were classified as nursing-sensitive and that the majority of those events were preventable. The most common types of nursing-sensitive events were falls, pressure injuries, healthcare-associated infections, and incidents related to medication management.

Retrospective error detection methods, such as trigger tools, are widely used to uncover the incidence and characteristics of adverse events (AE) in hospitalized children. This review sought AEs identified by three trigger tools: Global Trigger Tool (GTT), the Trigger Tool (TT) or the Harvard Medical Practice Study (HMPS) method. Results from the trigger tools were widely variable, similar to an earlier review in adult acute care, and suggest the need for strengthening reporting standards.

Improving patient safety in long-term care facilities is an ongoing challenge. This systematic review identified three types of interventions that can improve safety in long-term care facilities – (1) promoting safety culture, (2) reducing occupational stress and burnout, and (3) increasing medication safety.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted healthcare delivery and raised concerns about exacerbating existing patient safety challenges. Based on incident reporting data from three large US academic medical centers from January 2020 through December 2021, researchers found that patient safety event rates did not increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they did observe a relationship between staffing levels during the pandemic and patient safety event rates.

Opioid use by older adults increases the risk of falls. This study examined electronic health record data to determine the proportion of older adults presenting to the emergency room or urgent care due to a fall who receive an opioid prescription, particularly those with at least one risk factor for misuse. Nearly one third of patients received a prescription for an opioid and/or benzodiazepine, and 11% had at least one risk factor for misuse.

Nurses play a critical role in ensuring patient safety, and prior research has shown that better nurse-staffing ratios and nurse engagement can improve mortality rates. This study of nearly 300 Florida acute-care hospitals evaluated the effect of expenditures on continuing nurse education staffing ratios of several AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSI). Increased spending on both improved outcomes in catheter-related blood stream infections, pressure ulcers, and deep vein thrombosis.

Interhospital transfers pose a serious risk to patients. In this study, nurse anesthetists and intensive care nurses described strategies to ensure safe transport for patients who are intubated or who may require intubation. Strategies include clear and adequate communication between providers prior to transport, stabilizing and optimizing the patient’s condition, and ensuring that appropriate drugs and equipment are prepared and available.

Although patient safety is a national priority, preventable harm among patients remains high. After analyzing national death certificate data from 1999 through 2019, researchers in this study found that medical adverse events were listed as the underlying cause of death in 0.24% of deaths. From 2014 to 2019, researchers identified a nearly 16% annual increase in deaths attributed to adverse events, primarily driven by procedure-related adverse events and possibly related to the implementation of ICD-10 in 2015.

Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, categorized as a never event, are underreported, particularly when related to medical devices. Interviews with experts in hospital-acquired pressure ulcers revealed four domains related to reporting: 1) individual health professional factors, 2) professional interactions, 3) incentives and resources, and 4) capacity for organizational change. Teamwork, openness, and feedback were seen as the main facilitators to reporting, and financial consequences was a contributing barrier.

Isolation for infection prevention and control may result in unintended consequences for patient safety. Using focus groups at two hospitals, this study explored healthcare staff understanding of infection prevention practices and patient safety culture within insolation settings. Thematic analysis highlights the importance of engaged leadership, appropriate staffing, teamwork, and prioritization of patient-centered care in achieving a culture of safety and improvements in infection prevention.

COVID-19 changed the way care is delivered to hospitalized patients and resulted in new categories and themes in patient safety reporting. This study used machine learning to group of more than 2,000 patient safety event (PSE) reports into eight clinically relevant themes, including testing delays, diagnostic errors, pressure ulcers, and falls.

Achieving zero preventable harm is an ongoing goal for health systems. In this study, researchers developed a five-part strategy to achieve high-reliability and eliminate preventable harm at one regional health system in Canada – (1) engage leadership, (2) develop an organization-specific patient safety framework, (3) monitor specific quality aims (e.g., high-risk, high-cost areas), (4) standardize the incident review process, including the use of root cause analysis, and (5) communicate progress to staff in real-time via electronic dashboards. One-year post-implementation, researchers observed an increase in patient safety incident reporting and improvements in safety culture, as well as decreases in adverse events such as falls, pressure injuries and healthcare-acquired infections.

Computed tomography (CT) scans are important diagnostic tools but can present serious dangers from overexposure to radiation. Researchers reviewed 133 radiation incidents reported to one NHS trust from 2015-2018. Reported events included radiation incidents, near-miss incidents, and repeat scans. Most events were investigated using a systems approach, and staff were encouraged to report all types of incidents, including near misses, to foster a culture of safety and enable learning.