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 566 Results

In Conversation with Connor Wesley, RN, BSN on Patient Safety Concerns and the LGBTQ+ Population

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Perspective on Safety February 1, 2023

Connor Wesley, RN, BSN, is a registered nurse in Tacoma, WA. In addition to his role as the Assistant Nurse Manager of the Emergency Department at MultiCare Allenmore Hospital, Connor lectures locally and nationally on providing healthcare to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) community. We interviewed Connor to discuss patient safety and the LGBTQ+ community.

Toward the translation of systems thinking methods in patient safety practice: assessing the validity of Net-HARMS and AcciMap.

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Salmon PM, King B, Hulme A, et al. Safety Sci. 2022;159:106003.

Organizations are encouraged to proactively identify patient safety risks and learn from failures. This article describes validity testing of systems-thinking risk assessment (Net-HARMS) to identify risks associated with patient medication administration and an accident analysis method (AcciMap) to analyze a medication administration error.

Patient and hospital characteristics associated with delayed diagnosis of appendicitis.

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Reyes AM, Royan R, Feinglass J, et al. JAMA Surg. 2023;Epub Jan 18.

Delays in diagnosis and treatment can lead to poor outcomes. In this population-based retrospective longitudinal study using inpatient and emergency department discharge data from four states, researchers found that non-Hispanic Black patients were at higher risk for delayed diagnosis of appendicitis compared to White patients. This increased risk for delayed diagnosis translated into higher risks for postoperative 30-day readmission rates. The researchers found that this risk was mitigated when Black patients received care at hospitals serving a more diverse patient population.

Patient Safety Concerns and the LGBTQ+ Population

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Perspective on Safety February 1, 2023

This piece discusses patient safety concerns among members of the LGBTQ+ community which may inhibit access to needed healthcare and potential ways to provide patient-centered care and mitigate the risk of adverse events.

The value of learning from near misses to improve patient safety: a scoping review.

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Woodier N, Burnett C, Moppett I. J Patient Saf. 2022;19:42-47.

Reporting and learning from adverse events is a core patient safety activity. Findings from this scoping review indicate limited evidence demonstrating that reporting and learning from near-miss events improves patient safety. The authors suggest that future research further explore this relationship and establish the effectiveness of system-level actions to avoid near misses.

Incidence and characteristics of adverse events in paediatric inpatient care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Dillner P, Eggenschwiler LC, Rutjes AWS, et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2022;Epub Dec 26.

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.

A scoping review of non-professional medication practices and medication safety outcomes during public health emergencies.

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Kelly D, Koay A, Mineva G, et al. Public Health. 2022;214:50-60.

Natural disasters and other public health emergencies (PHE), such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can dramatically change the delivery of healthcare. This scoping review identified considerable research examining the relationship between public health emergencies and disruptions to personal medication practices (e.g., self-altering medication regimens, access barriers, changing prescribing providers) and subsequent medication-related harm.

Assessing experiences of racism among Black and White patients in the emergency department.

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Agarwal AK, Sagan C, Gonzales R, et al. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2022;3:e12870.

Black patients who report experiencing racism in healthcare report poorer quality of care. In this text-message based study, Black and White patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) were asked about their overall quality of care and whether they perceived an impact of their race on their care. While Black patients reported high overall quality of care, 10% believed their race negatively impacted their care. The authors highlight the importance of asking about the impact of race on care to identify and reduce potential disparities.

Addressing patient safety hazards using critical incident reporting in hospitals: a systematic review.

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Goekcimen K, Schwendimann R, Pfeiffer Y, et al. J Patient Saf. 2023;19:e1-e8.

Incident reporting systems are common tools to detect patient safety hazards. This systematic review synthesized evidence from 41 studies using incident reporting system data to identify and characterize critical incidents. Medication-related incidents and incidents due to “active failures” were the most commonly reported events. The authors observe that only one in three studies reported on corrective actions due to the incidents, highlighting the need to emphasize the importance of learning from errors.

Safer Together Survey: Advancing Patient and Workforce Safety

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Cambridge, MA: Institute for Healthcare Improvement: January 2023.

The National Steering Committee for Patient Safety (NSC) was formed to engage with the health care community to plan and prioritize patient safety work to generate improvements. This short survey seeks comments from the field to determine current interest and status in efforts aligned with the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety.

The International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare Europe.

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Institute for Healthcare Improvement and British Medical Journal. Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 15-17, 2023.

This onsite conference offers an introduction to quality and safety improvement success and challenges drawing from international experiences. Course activities designed for a multidisciplinary audience supporting the theme of "Adapting to a changing world: equity, sustainability and wellbeing for all" will cover topics such as healthcare inequality, workforce wellbeing, and adverse events as learning opportunities.

Examination of impact of after-hours admissions on hospital resource use, patient outcomes, and costs.

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Skead C, Thompson LH, Kuk H, et al. Crit Care Res Pract. 2022;2022:4815734.

After-hours and weekend admissions to the hospital and intensive care units (ICU) have been linked to poor outcomes. This retrospective analysis compared outcomes among adult patients with daytime versus nighttime ICU admissions at one large Canadian medical center in between 2011 and 2015. Researchers found that overall mortality, but not ICU mortality, was higher among daytime admissions.

Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: a Systematic Review.

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Newman-Toker DE, Peterson SM, Badihian S, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; December 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 22(23)-EHC043.

Although diagnostic accuracy in the emergency department (ED) is high, diagnostic errors still occur. This evidence review estimated that 1 in 18 ED patients receive an incorrect diagnosis, which translates to 7.4 million patients misdiagnosed every year (or 5.7% of all ED visits annually). Five conditions were found to be most vulnerable to misdiagnosis: stroke, heart attack, aortic aneurysm/ dissection, spinal cord injury and blood clots. The evidence review identified variation in diagnostic error rates across demographic groups; female sex and non-White race were often associated with increased risk for diagnostic errors. Serious misdiagnosis-related harms were often associated with clinician bedside judgement and other cognitive failures.

Negative emotions experienced by healthcare staff following medication administration errors: a descriptive study using text-mining and content analysis of incident data.

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Mahat S, Rafferty AM, Vehviläinen-Julkunen K, et al. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22:1474.

Healthcare staff who are involved in a medical error often experience emotional distress. Using qualitative methods and text mining of medication error incident reports, researchers in this study identified the negative emotions experienced by healthcare staff after a medication error (e.g., fear, guilt, sadness) and perceptions regarding how superiors and colleagues effectively responded to the events (e.g., reassurance, support, and guidance).

Structural racism and adverse maternal health outcomes: a systematic review.

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Hailu EM, Maddali SR, Snowden JM, et al. Health Place. 2022;78:102923.

Racial and ethnic health disparities are receiving increased attention, and yet structural racism continues to negatively impact communities of color. This review identified only six papers studying the impact of structural racism on severe maternal morbidity (SMM). Despite heterogeneity in measures and outcomes, the studies all demonstrated a link between structural racism and SMM; additional research is required.

Inappropriate prescribing of opioids for patients undergoing surgery.

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Varady NH, Worsham CM, Chen AF, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2022;119:e2210226119.

Safe prescribing dictates that prescriptions should only be written for the patients who are intended to use the prescribed medications. Using claims data, this analysis identified a high rate of opioid prescriptions written for and filled by the spouses of patients undergoing outpatient surgery (who may be unable to fill prescriptions themselves after surgery). Findings suggest intentional, clinically inappropriate prescribing of opioids.

A recent two-fold increase in medical adverse event deaths among US inpatients.

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Oura P, Sajantila A. J Public Health Res. 2022;11:227990362211399.

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.

In conversation with Ellen Deutsch, MD, MS, FACS, FAAP, FSSH, CPPS

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Perspective on Safety December 14, 2022

Ellen Deutsch, MD, MS, FACS, FAAP, FSSH, CPPS is a Medical Officer in the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Deutsch is a pediatric otolaryngologist and has vast experience in simulation and resilience engineering. We spoke with her about resilient healthcare and how resilient engineering principles are applied to improve patient safety.

Prevalence, causes and severity of medication administration errors in the neonatal intensive care unit: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Henry Basil J, Premakumar CM, Mhd Ali A, et al. Drug Saf. 2022;45:1457-1476.

Medication administration errors (MAEs) are thought to be common in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This systematic review estimated that the pooled prevalence of MAEs among patients in NICU settings ranged from 59% to 65%. The review highlights both active failures (e.g., similar drug packaging or names) and latent failures (e.g., noisy environments, inaccurate verbal or written orders) contributing to MAEs.

Errors in surgery: a case control study.

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Marsh KM, Turrentine FE, Schenk WG, et al. Ann Surg. 2022;276:e347-e352.

The perioperative period represents a vulnerable time for patients. This retrospective review of patients undergoing surgery at one hospital over a one-year period concluded that medical errors (including, but not limited to, technical errors, diagnostic errors, system errors, and errors of omission) were strongly associated with postoperative morbidity.

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