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Preventable maternal morbidity is an ongoing challenge in the United States. This infographic shares general data and statistics that demonstrate the presence of racial disparities in maternal care that are linked to structural racism. The resource highlights several avenues for improvement such as diversification of the perinatal staffing and increased access to telehealth.

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.

The memory of John Eisenberg, MD, continues to motivate patient safety improvement. The 2021 honorees for the award presented in Dr Eisenberg’s honor are Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH, Prime Healthcare Services, Ontario, California, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, and Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH.

The Eisenberg Award honors individuals and organizations who have made key contributions to patient safety and quality improvement. The awards are presented at the National Quality Forum's annual policy conference in Washington, DC. This website provides information on all the recipients and the application procedure. The deadline for submitting an application for the 2022 award cycle is September 14, 2022.

This guidance outlines design elements that reduce errors associated with medication labels. Improvements suggested include tall-man lettering use, look-alike / sound alike avoidance and abbreviation minimization.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the impact of racial disparities and inequities on patient safety for patients of color. This film shares stories of families whose care was unsafe. The cases discussed highlight how missed and dismissed COVID symptoms and inattention to patient and family concerns due to bias reduces patient safety.

Unsafe care affects a wide range of individuals and organizations physically, emotionally, and financially. This report examines large system failures in the UK National Health Service to suggest actions that support learning and improvement. The publication highlights how public investigations, government reports, legal actions, and patient complaints can provide information to support the systems approach required to arrive at safe care.

The Eisenberg Award recognizes individual and organizational accomplishment toward patient safety and quality improvement. The 2021 honorees are Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH, Prime Healthcare Services, Ontario, California, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, and Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH. The awards will be presented virtually during the National Quality Forum's annual meeting in July.

This grant program supports research that seeks to improve anesthesia safety and the development of researchers in the specialty. The application process for submitting a grant application for the 2022 funding cycle of the primary solicitation for investigator initiated research (IIR) grants is now closed. Other opportunities for funding become available on a periodic basis.

The 2016 Centers for Disease Control opioid guidelines have raised concerns as to their potential to contribute to patient harm. This announcement calls for comments from the field to inform and update current policy in response to safety issues that emerged as unintended consequences of the 2016 recommendation. Comments are due to be submitted by April 11, 2022.

This website provides resources for promoting patient safety during Patient Safety Awareness Week. The annual observance is held in March.

In this annual publication, AHRQ reviews the results of the National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report. The 2021 report highlights that a wide range of quality measures have shown improvement in quality, access, and cost.

Health care–associated infections occur across various health care settings. AHRQ seeks to support large research (R01) and dissemination (R18) projects working to develop strategies and approaches for preventing and reducing health care–associated infections. Applications will be accepted on a standard submission schedule through May 27, 2025.