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Patients receiving home care services are vulnerable to medication errors. Based on survey feedback from 485 home care nurses in Germany, this study found that regular medication training and use of quality assurance principles (i.e., double checking) can decrease the incidence of medication errors in home care settings.

Nurses play a critical role in reducing preventable harm among inpatients. This cross-sectional survey of nurses working in general medicine wards identified both enabling factors (behavioral regulation, perceived capabilities, and environmental context/resources) and barriers (intentions, perceived consequences, optimism, and professional role) to implementing comprehensive harm prevention programs for older adult inpatients.

Closed-loop communication is essential to effective teamwork, particularly during complex or high-intensity clinical scenarios. This study found that participation in a one-day simulation team training for pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurses led to significant improvements in closed-loop communication in real-life clinical situations.

This position statement outlines recommendations from the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses on core components of safe perioperative nursing and its role in strengthening patient safety. Elements discussed include error reduction, leadership engagement, and safe working environment..

Workplace violence in healthcare settings can jeopardize the safety of both patients and healthcare workers. This study found that over half of healthcare workers at one large academic medical center in the United States reported witnessing or experiencing workplace violence. Witnessing or experiencing workplace violence was most common in psychiatric settings and in the emergency department.  

Maternal morbidity and mortality continues to be a significant patient safety problem. This mixed-methods study identified system-level factors affecting registered nurses during care of people in labor experiencing clinical deterioration. Task overload, missing or inadequate tools and technology, and a crowded physical environment were all identified as performance obstacles. Improving nurse workload and involving nurses in the redesign of tools and technology could provide a meaningful way to reduce maternal morbidity.

Medication errors are common among older adults discharged to long-term care facilities. Researchers reviewed medication discrepancy data from four long-term care facilities over a 9-month period and found that nearly 41% of newly admitted or re-admitted residents had at least one medication discrepancy discovered at nursing home intake. Residents who were prescribed 14 or more medications and those with certain comorbidities (e.g., heart failure, anemia, hypertension) were at greatest risk for discrepancies. Higher discrepancies occurred with respiratory and analgesic medications, underscoring the importance of medication reconciliation for residents with respiratory conditions or pain.

Situational awareness is the degree to which perception of a situation matches reality, and the lack of situational awareness can result in decreased patient outcomes. This study measured nurses’ situational awareness immediately after inspection of a resuscitation cart. Importantly, researchers observed significant issues related to readiness preparedness, such as empty oxygen tanks, drained batteries, and equipment failures.

Anchoring bias is relying on initial diagnostic impression despite subsequent information to the contrary. In this study, radiologists were asked to read a mammogram and were told a random number which researchers claimed was the probability the mammogram was positive for breast cancer. Radiologists' estimation of breast cancer reflected the random number they were given prior to viewing the image; however, when they were not given a prior estimation, radiologists were highly accurate in diagnosing breast cancer.

Medication reconciliation at hospital discharge has become a mainstay of patient safety efforts with most of the focus on pharmacist involvement. Focus groups of hospital nurses were conducted to elicit their perspectives on their role in medication reconciliation. Three themes emerged: nurses' role involves chasing, checking, and educating; burden of undertaking medication reconciliation at hospital discharge; team collaboration and communication in medication reconciliation.

Disruptive patient behaviors in the hospital not only pose a risk to staff safety, but may also experience patient safety risks such as misdiagnosis. A behavioral intervention team (BIT) was deployed on two adult medical-surgical wards to evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive behavioral management intervention. While there were no differences in the number of behavioral issues reported in the intervention or control group, nurses rated BIT as the most beneficial support to manage patients exhibiting disruptive behaviors.

Nurses have a significant impact on patient safety. This integrative review of clinical practice guidelines identified 6 themes representing nursing care strategies to manage risk and prevent harm – (1) detect risk or early change, (2) act early to prevent deterioration, (3) identify and treat underlying conditions, (4) grade escalation of care, (5) provide a safe care environment, and (6) engage patient and care partners. These findings highlight the complexity of nursing work and illustrate strategies that nurse leaders can integrate into local practice to improve safe care.

Missed or incomplete nursing care can adversely affect care quality and safety. Based on survey responses from 295 frontline nurses in the Philippines, this study explored factors contributing to missed nursing care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings suggest that nurses most frequently missed tasks such as patient surveillance, comforting patients, skin care, ambulation, and oral hygiene. The authors suggest that increasing nurse staffing, adequate use of personal protective equipment, and improved safety culture may reduce instances of missed care.  

Ensuring that healthcare workers feel comfortable speaking up about concerns – also known as psychological safety – is an essential component of patient safety. This concept analysis identified five attributes of psychological safety in healthcare settings – (1) perceptions of consequences related to taking interpersonal risks; (2) strong interpersonal relationships; (3) group-level phenomenon; (4) safe work environments supporting interpersonal risks and (5) non-punitive culture.

Appropriate levels of nurse staffing have been shown to improve patient outcomes. This national study explored the effect of nurse staffing on clinical quality, nurse experience, and nurse engagement. Consistent with earlier research, nurse staffing was associated with improved clinical outcomes.

Insulin is a high-risk medication and can contribute to adverse events in pediatric patients. This paper describes one children’s hospital’s experience implementing a new standardized medication administration process for insulin and the impact on insulin-related adverse drug events (ADEs). Findings indicate that implementation of a PRN (i.e., “as needed”) ordering process and clinician education decreased insulin-related ADEs and reduced the time between blood glucose checks and insulin administration.