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Autopsies following unexpected deaths can provide valuable insights and learning opportunities for improving patient safety. In 2017, the National Health Service (NHS) implemented “Learning from Deaths” (LfD) to report, learn from, and avoid potentially preventable deaths. Through interviews with policy makers, managers, and senior clinicians responsible for implementing the policy, this study reports on how contextual factors influenced implementation of the LfD policy.

Social distancing policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic challenged healthcare system leaders and providers to balance infection prevention strategies and providing collaborative, team-based patient care. In this article, four primary care clinics made changes to the clinic design, operational protocols, and usage of spaces. Negative impacts of these changes, such as fewer opportunities for collaboration, communication, and coordination, were observed.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid transition of healthcare from in-person to remote and virtual care. This review assessed the safety and effectiveness of pulse oximetry in remote patient monitoring (RPM) of patients at home with COVID-19. Results show RPM was safe for patients in identifying risk of deterioration. However, it was not evident whether remote pulse oximetry was more effective than other virtual methods, such as virtual visits, monitoring consultations, or online or paper diaries.

The role of healthcare disparities in patient safety is an emerging priority. This article summarizes disparities in preventable harm and outlines solutions to reducing inequalities in patient safety at the individual-, leadership-, and system-levels, such as identifying clear chains of accountability for adverse events and improving incident measurement and analysis specific to marginalized patient groups.

The COVID pandemic has increased demand and acceptance of remote care modalities. This commentary suggests that home monitoring is a promising telehealth approach and that its application could improve value while enhancing safety for hospital-at-home and other levels of home-based care patients.

While falls are common in older adults, there was a 31% increase in death due to falls in the U.S. from 2007-2016, partially associated with the increase in older adults in the population. This mixed methods study looked at the prevalence, risk factors, and contributors to potentially harmful medication dispensed after a fall/fracture of patients using the Potentially Harmful Drug-Disease Interactions in the Elderly (HEDIS DDE) codes. There were 113,809 patients with a first time fall; 35.4% had high-risk medications dispensed after their first fall. Interviews with 22 physicians identified patient reluctance to report falls and inconsistent assessment, and documentation of falls made it challenging to consider falls when prescribing medications.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is a tool commonly used by organizations to analyze safety errors. This systematic review explored whether interventions implemented based on RCA recommendations were effective at preventing similar adverse events in Veterans Health Affairs (VA) settings. Of the ten retrospective studies included in the review, all reported improvements following RCA-recommended interventions implementation, but the studies used different methodologies to assess effectiveness. The authors suggest that future research emphasize quantitative patient-related outcome measures to demonstrate the impact and value of RCAs.

High-reliability organizations (HROs) are able to “manage the unexpected” while operating under challenging conditions. This article describes the U.S. Medical Department’s systemwide rollout of the Top Six HRO communication practices. The authors summarize how the Top Six campaign was developed and discuss the implementation of six systemwide initiatives to increase reliability – (1) daily safety briefings; (2) safety leadership rounds; (3) unit-based huddles; (4) Situation Background Assessment Recommendation (SBAR) for communication; (5) briefs and debriefs for surgical cases; and (6) Universal Protocol before every procedure.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of healthcare delivery for both patients and health care workers. This study explored the how COVID-19-related policies and initiatives intended to improve patient safety impacted workflow, system adaptations, as well as organizational and individual resilience among community pharmacists.

Hospital at Home (HAH), in which patients receive hospital-level care in their own homes, reduces the risk of hospital-acquired conditions such as delirium, especially in older adults. This commentary provides an overview of HAH, recent developments, and associated regulatory, safety, and quality issues.

Patient falls represent a significant cause of patient harm. While most research on falls focus on the in-patient setting, this study reviewed research evidence and findings from environmental assessments to provide recommendations for reducing risk of falls in the pediatric ambulatory care setting. Three categories of barriers and interventions were identified: equipment and furniture, environment, and people.

Dialysis is a common procedure that carries risks if not performed correctly. This study analyzed dialysis-related bleeding events reported to the Veterans Health Administration Patient Safety Authority over an 18-year period. The analysis identified four areas of focus to reduce bleeding events – (1) the physical location and equipment used, (2) staff commitment to standardization and attention to detail (to reduce unwitnessed bleeding events), (3) mental status of the patient, and (4) the method for hemodialysis delivery.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in the use of telehealth in order to limit patient exposure to the virus. Findings from this study highlight the value of telehealth visits for patients with suspected respiratory infections to prevent further transmission. Researchers found that patients exposed to influenza-like illness in primary care office settings were more likely than nonexposed patients to return with a similar illness within two weeks.