Lack of access to obstetric care impedes safe treatment for mothers. This story describes challenges one mother experienced in finding care during a miscarriage due to abortion policies and the steps she and her family took to manage her condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed fractures in health care systems worldwide. The authors advocate for enhanced use of systems-focused and organization-centric strategies to improve patient safety through universal application of best practices.

Inadequate equipment and personnel training degrade the reliability of individuals to provide safe care in an emergency. This article discusses inconsistent preparedness throughout commercial aviation to support care during an in-flight medical situation; it suggests federal oversight of medical kits may help to ensure their completeness and improve the potential for safety should care be required.

This site provides data and analysis from two Oregon Patient Safety Commission patient safety initiatives: the Patient Safety Reporting Program (PSRP) and Early Discussion and Resolution (EDR) effort. The review of 2021 PSRP data discusses the impact of the state adverse event reporting program and upcoming initiative to examine how organizational safety effort prioritization affects care in Oregon. The 2022 EDR analysis discusses the uptake of the program to generate conversations with patients and providers after a patient safety incident occurred.

Medical errors continue to cause harm worldwide despite the planning and efforts to reduce them. This bi-yearly session will feature topics exploring the theme of “Less Harm, Better Care – from Resolution to Implementation.” It will cover weaknesses in improvement initiative implementation surfaced by the COVID-19 pandemic and offer approaches for addressing unsustainable program launches and implementation practices.

Women of color are at risk of bias that reduces the safety of their medical care experience. This article discusses the history of racism in health care, low quality maternal care of Black women, and barriers to safe care for that patient population. The piece also discusses challenges to effective legal response for Black women who experience poor care and strategies to address those barriers.

Bias and discrimination are receiving overdue attention as primary barriers to patient safety. This article discusses medical error, ineffective response to error, social trust and health care, state apology laws and the role of communication and resolution programs (CRP) to reduce additional harms associated with medical errors, all in the context of marginalized populations.