The PSNet Collection

Recognizing Excellence in Diagnosis: Recommended Practices for Hospitals.

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Washington, DC: Leapfrog Group; July 2022.

Diagnostic safety is beginning to be established as a systemic, rather than solely an individual performance issue. This report recommends strategies that support systemic work toward diagnostic excellence and selected implementation stories that illustrate success. It is a part of a larger initiative devoted to the improvement of organizational and team activities in tandem with clinical processes to minimize the impact of human error on diagnosis.

Adverse Health Events in Minnesota: Annual Reports.

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St Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Health.

The National Quality Forum has defined 29 never events—patient safety problems that should never occur, such as wrong-site surgery and patient falls. Since 2003, Minnesota hospitals have been required to report such incidents. The 2021 report summarizes information about 508 adverse events that were reported, representing a significant increase in the year covered. Earlier reports document a fairly consistent count of adverse events. The rise reflected here is likely due to demands on staffing and care processes associated with COVID-19. Pressure ulcers and fall-related injuries were the most common incidents documented. Reports from previous years are available.

Oxford Professional Practice: Handbook of Patient Safety.

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Lachman P, Runnacles J, Jayadev A et al, eds. London, England; Oxford University Press; 2022. ISBN: 9780192846877.

Patient safety needs to routinely involve new professionals to promote improvement. This publication introduces the foundations of patient safety. It aligns with an established curriculum to enhance learning and engage physicians in the application of safety concepts in their daily practice.

Independent Neurology Inquiry.

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Lockhart B, Mascie-Taylor H. Crown Copyright: London, England; June 2022. ISBN 9781912313631.

Misdiagnosis of neurological conditions, such as stroke, can lead to delays in treatment and patient morbidity and mortality. This report outlines findings from an inquiry into one misdiagnosis attributed to one neurologist in Ireland and discusses the leadership, system, process, and communication failures which permitted misdiagnoses to go unchecked.

Under the Skin. The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of our Nation.

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Villarosa L. New York, NT: Doubleday: 2022. ISBN 9780385544887.

Health inequities are receiving increased attention as a patient safety issue. This book examines the persistent problem of systemic racism on the health of Black patients. It summarizes the evidence on how racism affects health care and discusses strategies for improvement such as reducing gaps in implicit bias content in curriculum.

Harm Caused by Delays in Transferring Patients to the Right Place of Care.

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Farnborough, UK: Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; June 2022.

Handoffs between prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) providers and hospital emergency departments (EDs) can be suboptimal, which increases patient harm potential. This interim report examines National Health Service discharge delays. It suggests a systemic approach is needed to address flow and capacity factors that contribute to ineffective and unsafe interfacility discharge and transfer.

Zero: Eliminating Unnecessary Deaths in a Post-pandemic NHS.

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Hunt J. London, UK: Swift Press; 2022. ISBN: ‎ 9781800751224.

The National Health Service (NHS) has been a leader in patient safety for over 20 years, and yet NHS patients still experience harm. This book shares leadership insights from former NHS Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt intended to help the institution reach a place where zero patient harm will occur. The book discusses primary causes of patient harm, the challenge of organizational culture, solutions supporting improvement, and implementation strategies.

Hospital Reporting Program: Annual Summary.

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Oregon Patient Safety Commission.

This annual Patient Safety Reporting Program (PSRP) publication provides data and analysis of adverse events voluntarily reported to the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. The review of 2021 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 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

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Leapfrog Group.

This website offers resources related to the Leapfrog Hospital Survey investigating hospitals' progress in implementing specific patient safety practices. Updates to the survey include increased time allotted to complete computerized provider order entry evaluation, staffing of critical care physicians on intensive care units, and use of tools to measure safety culture. Reports discussing the results are segmented into specific areas of focus such as health care-associated infections and medication errors.

Decontamination of Surgical Instruments.

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Farnborough, UK; Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch; May 26, 2022.

Surgical equipment sterilization can be hampered by equipment design, production pressures, process complexity and policy misalignment. This report examines a case of unclean surgical instrument use. It recommends external sterile service assessment and competency review as steps toward improving the reliability of instrument decontamination processes in the National Health Service.

Adverse Events in Hospitals: A Quarter of Medicare Patients Experienced Harm in October 2018.

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Grimm CA. Washington DC: Office of the Inspector General; May 2022. Report no. OEI-06-18-00400.

In its 2010 report, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found 13.5% of hospitalized Medicare patients experience harm in October 2008. This OIG report has updated the proportion of hospitalized Medicare patients who experienced harm and the resulting costs in October of 2018. Researchers found 12% of patients experienced adverse events, and an additional 13% experienced temporary harm. Reviewers determined 43% of harm events could have been prevented and resulted in significant costs to Medicare and patients.

Global Report on Infection Prevention and Control: Executive Summary.

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Geneva, Switzerland; World Health Organization; May 5, 2022.

Healthcare-acquired infection is a persistent systemic problem. This report recaps the universal status of infection prevention and control (IPC) programs and highlights the influence of nosocomial infection on care provision and public health. The examination states that concerning IPC disparities exist in low-income countries. It reviews the impact of poor infection control, cost-effectiveness of existing efforts, and recommendations to improve and sustain IPC efforts worldwide.

AHRQ Safety Program for Intensive Care Units: Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI: Final Report.

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Molefe A, Hung L, Hayes K, et al. Rockville MD: Agency for healthcare Research and Quality; 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 17(22)-0019.

Central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are a persistent challenge for health care safety. This report shares the results of a 6-cohort initiative to reduce CLABSI and/or CAUTI infection rates in adult critical care. Recommendations for collaborative implementation success are included.

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic to Improve Diagnosis. Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief.

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2022.

The COVID-19 crisis affected most health care processes, including diagnosis. This report recaps a session examining impacts of the pandemic on diagnostic approaches, inequities, and innovations that may inform future diagnostic improvement efforts.

The Joint Commission's new and revised workplace violence prevention standards for hospitals: a major step forward toward improved quality and safety.

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Arnetz JE. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2022;48(4):241-245.

Patient violence toward health care workers is a common, yet underreported, influence on care safety. This commentary summarizes policies in place to address patient violence and highlights Joint Commission standards developed to reduce the potential for violence in care environments. Improved reporting, organizational engagement, and safety culture development are among the strategies recommended.

How Discrimination in Health Care Affects Older Americans, and What Health Systems and Providers Can Do.

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Doty MM, Horstman C, Shah A et al. Issue Brief. New York, NY: Commonwealth Fund: April 2022.

Bias in any form degrades the safety and effectiveness of communication and care. This report summarizes data documenting the impact of racial and ethnic discrimination on older adult patients. It provides recommendations that include increasing content in medical school curriculum to raise awareness of biased medical care and tailoring communication needs to ethnic communities as steps toward reducing discrimination.

Patient Safety Authority Annual Reports.

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Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. Harrisburg, PA: Patient Safety Authority; April 2022.

This report summarizes patient safety improvement work in the state of Pennsylvania and reviews the 2021 activities of the Patient Safety Authority, including the Agency's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, video programs, liaison efforts, publication programs, and the launch of a new learning management system.

Final Report of the Ockenden Review.

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Maternal and baby harm in healthcare is a sentinel event manifested by systemic failure. This report serves as the final conclusions of an investigation into 250 cases at a National Health System (NHS) trust. The authors share overarching system improvement suggestions and high-priority recommendations to initiate NHS maternity care improvement.

The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff.

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2022. ISBN: 9780309686259

Nursing homes face significant patient safety challenges, and these challenges became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report identifies key issues in the delivery of care for nursing home residents and provides recommendations to strengthen the quality and safety of care delivery, such as improved working conditions, enhanced minimum staffing standards, improving quality measurement, and strengthening emergency preparedness.

Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2022.

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ECRI. Plymouth Meeting, PA. March 2022.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated patient safety concerns. ECRI presents the top ten patient concerns for 2022, including staffing challenges, human factors in telehealth, and supply chain disruptions.

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