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 750 Results

Hospital-Acquired Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

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WebM&M Case February 1, 2023

This WebM&M highlights two cases of hospital-acquired diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in patients with type 1 diabetes. The commentary discusses the role of the inpatient glycemic team to assist with diabetes management, the importance of medication reconciliation in the emergency department (ED) for high-risk patients on insulin, and strategies to empower patients and caregivers to speak up about medication safety.

Introducing ISMP’s New Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Community Pharmacy: 2023-2024.

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Institute for Safe Medication Practices. January 31, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM (eastern).

A variety of factors can decrease the safety of community pharmacy practice such as production pressure and fatigue. This webinar will discuss a new set of best practices for community pharmacy to address common problems that reach patients and cause harm.

ISMP Medication Safety Intensive.

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Institute for Safe Medication Practices. February 1-2, 2023.

This virtual workshop will explore tactics to ensure medication safety, including strategic planning, risk assessment, and Just Culture principles.

ASHP Guidelines on Preventing Diversion of Controlled Substances.

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Clark J, Fera T, Fortier CR, et al. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2022;79:2279-2306.

Drug diversion is a system issue that has the potential to disrupt patient access to safe, reliable medications and result in harm. These guidelines offer a structured approach for organizations to develop and implement drug diversion prevention efforts. The strategies submitted focus on foundational, organizational, and individual prevention actions that target risk points across the medication use process such as storage, prescribing, and waste disposal.

Concerns regarding tablet splitting: a systematic review.

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Saran AK, Holden NA, Garrison SR. BJGP Open. 2022;6:BJGPO.2022.0001.

Tablet-splitting may introduce patient safety risks, such as unpredictable dosing. This systematic review and qualitative synthesis did not identify substantive evidence to support tablet-splitting concerns, with the exception of sustained-release tablets and use by older adults who may struggle to split tablets due to physical limitations.

Medication Safety Certificate Program.

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American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Leadership commitment to reduce medication errors can help address this safety problem. This certificate program presents key concepts that support organizational efforts to augment medication safety, including event analysis, safety culture, risk identification, and change management.

RaDonda Vaught, medication safety, and the profession of pharmacy: steps to improve safety and ensure justice.

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Lambert BL, Schiff GD. J Am Coll Clin Pharm. 2022;5:981-987.

In the wake of the criminal conviction of a nurse involved in a medical error, numerous organizations and institutions have warned of the negative impact it could have on learning and error disclosure. This commentary presents strategies to reduce the risk of criminal prosecution for pharmacists, including education of prosecutors and expert witnesses and minimization of overrides and workarounds.

Differences in medication reconciliation interventions between six hospitals: a mixed method study.

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Stuijt CCM, van den Bemt BJF, Boerlage VE, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22:722.

Medication reconciliation can reduce medication errors, but implementation practices can vary across institutions. In this study, researchers compared data for patients from six hospitals and different clinical departments and found that hospitals differed in the number and type of medication reconciliation interventions performed. Qualitative analysis suggests that patient mix, types of healthcare professionals involved, and when and where the medication reconciliation interviews took place, influence the number of interventions performed.

ISMP Guidelines for Sterile Compounding and the Safe Use of Sterile Compounding Technology.

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

This updated report describes best practices to ensure safety when preparing sterile compounds, including pharmacist verification of orders entered into computerized provider order entry systems. The guidelines emphasize the role of technologies such as barcoding and robotic image recognition as approaches to enhance safety. In addition, it covers safe practices when technologies are not available.

Effects of tall man lettering on the visual behaviour of critical care nurses while identifying syringe drug labels: a randomised in situ simulation.

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Lohmeyer Q, Schiess C, Wendel Garcia PD, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2022;32:26-33.

Tall Man lettering (TML) is a recommended strategy to reduce look-alike or sound-alike medication errors. This simulation study used eye tracking to investigate how of ‘tall man lettering’ impacts medication administration tasks. The researchers found that TML of prelabeled syringes led to a significant decrease in misidentified syringes and improved visual attention.

Disrespectful Behavior in your workplace.

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Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Workplace bullying and disrespectful behavior have been shown to negatively affect fall rates, medication errors, and other adverse events. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices is seeking clinician input on and experiences with disrespectful behaviors in the ambulatory care setting (e.g., community, specialty, and long-term care pharmacies, physician practices, and outpatient visits) and how organizations have been working to improve the culture of respect.

Annual Perspective: Topics in Medication Safety

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Perspective on Safety March 31, 2022

Errors in medication management and administration are major threats to patient safety. This piece explores issues with opioid and nursing-sensitive medication safety as well as medication safety in older adults. Future research directions in medication safety are also discussed.

Pharmacy Education and Practice.

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Cohen M, Degnan D, McDonnell P, eds. Patient Saf. 2022;4(s1):1-45

Pharmacists play a unique role in patient safety that educational methods are shifting to address. This special issue covers several topics including strategies to reduce the susceptibility of hospitalized infants and children to medication errors, and infusing safety culture into pharmacy school curriculum.

Curated Libraries

Medication/Drug Errors

January 14, 2022

The medication-use process is highly complex with many steps and risk points for error, and those errors are a key target for improving safety. This Library reflects a curated selection of PSNet content focused on medication and drug errors. Included resources explore understanding harms from preventable medication use, medication safety...

Medication safety issues with newly authorized PAXLOVID.

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Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Medication Safety Alerts. January 3, 2022.

Emerging care practices can produce unsafe situations due to the newness of the approaches involved. This alert highlights safety considerations with an oral antiretroviral COVID treatment that include medication administration problems. Safety recommendations are provided for prescribers and pharmacists.

Prevalence of potentially harmful multidrug interactions on medication lists of elderly ambulatory patients.

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Anand TV, Wallace BK, Chase HS. BMC Geriatr. 2021;21:648.

Older adults, particularly those taking more than one medication, are at increased risk of adverse drug events (ADE). In this study of 6,545 older adult patients who were prescribed at least 3 medications, multidrug interactions (MDI) were identified in 1.3% of medication lists. Psychotropic medications were the most commonly involved medication class; the most common serious ADE were serotonin syndrome, seizures, prolonged QT interval, and bleeding.

Filling the gaps on the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Do Not Crush List for Immediate-release Products

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Uttaro E, Zhao F, Schweighardt A. Int J Pharm Compd. 2021;25(5):364-371.

Medication administration, particularly when it involves drug formulation manipulation, is a complex process. This study analyzed the products included on the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ (ISMP) ‘Do Not Crush List’ and found that many presented no risk or low risk for crushing. The authors provide recommendations for clinicians to aid in clinical decision-making regarding crushing, such as suitable personal protective equipment and prompt administration.

Healthcare failure mode and effect analysis in the chemotherapy preparation process.

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Pueyo-López C, Sánchez-Cuervo M, Vélez-Díaz-Pallarés M, et al. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2021;27:1588-1595.

Researchers in this study used healthcare failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA) to identify and reduce errors during chemotherapy preparation. Nine potential failure modes were identified – wrong label, drug, dose, solvent, or volume; non-sterile preparation; incomplete control; improper packaging or labeling, and; break or spill – and the potential causes and effects. Potential approaches to reduce these failure modes include updating the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), implementing a bar code system, and using a weight-based control system.

Medication errors during treatment with new oral anticancer agents: consequences for clinical practice based on the AMBORA Study.

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Schlichtig K, Dürr P, Dörje F, et al. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2021;110:1075-1086.

Building on prior research, this study found that medication errors are common in patients starting new oral anticancer therapy. Nearly two-thirds of these medication errors involved concomitantly administered medications (e.g., other prescribed drugs, over-the-counter medications).

Deprescribing as a Patient Safety Strategy

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Patient Safety Primer October 27, 2021

Deprescribing is an intervention used to reduce the risk of adverse drug events (ADEs) that can result from polypharmacy. It is the process of supervised medication discontinuation or dose reduction to reduce potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use.

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