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Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are a target of safety improvement initiatives, as they are common and harmful. This guideline provides an update on recommended steps for organizations to support the implementation of CLASBI reduction efforts.

Handoffs between inpatient care settings represent a vulnerable time for patients. This qualitative study explores how team cognition occurs during care transitions and interprofessional handoffs between inpatient settings and the influence of sociotechnical systems, such as communication workflows or electronic heath record-based interfaces) influence team cognition. Participants highlighted how interprofessional handoffs can both enhance (e.g., information exchange) and hinder (e.g., logistic challenges and imprecise communication) team cognition.

Telehealth is increasingly used to connect rural hospitals with specialists in other areas and can improve patient outcomes. This study found that in situ simulation training in rural emergency departments resulted in small increases in the use of telemedicine for patients presenting with sepsis and led to improvements in sepsis process care outcomes.

Needed nursing care that is delayed, partially completed, or not completed at all is known as missed nursing care (MNC). Researchers surveyed critical care registered nurses during two phases of the COVID-19 pandemic about recent missed nursing care, perceived quality of care, and contributing factors. There were no major changes in the types of, or reasons for, MNC compared to the reference survey completed in fall 2019.

Achieving high reliability is a goal for every healthcare organization. Based on interviews with hospital leadership, clinicians, and staff, this study explored how healthcare professionals understand and perceive high-reliability principles. Findings indicate that some principles are more supported than others and identified inconsistent understanding of principles across different types of healthcare professionals.

A 2011 systematic review identified nine tools to assess patient safety competence in nurses. This review identified multiple instruments released since that review; the most frequently used was the Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey (H-PEPSS). The authors suggest future research should consider including ethics in patient safety and responsiveness to change over time.

A 2009 CMS Condition of Participation (CoP) requires that a director of anesthesia services assume overall responsibility for anesthesia administered in the hospital, including procedural sedation provided by nonanesthesiologists. This article reviews the CoP as it relates to procedural sedation, lays out a framework for implementing this role, and describes challenges of implementation in a large health system.

Speech recognition software is a potential strategy to reduce documentation burden and burnout. This study compared the accuracy handwritten nursing notes versus online and offline speech recognition software. Findings indicate that the speech recognition software was accurate but created more errors than handwritten notes.

In 2019, a consensus group identified twelve competencies to improve diagnostic education. This article details next steps for incorporating competencies into interprofessional health education: 1) Developing a shared, common language for diagnosis, 2) developing the necessary content, 3) developing assessment tools, 4) promoting faculty development, and 5) spreading awareness of the need to improve education in regard to diagnosis.

Previous research has found that mindfulness interventions can reduce stress and burnout among physicians. This survey of 98 healthcare workers within the UK National Health Service (NHS) explored the relationship between poor wellbeing, burnout and perceived safe practice and identified a positive relationship between mindfulness processes and perceived safe practices.

Reducing healthcare-acquired infections is an ongoing patient safety goal. In this study, researchers used structured observations to explore factors contributing to healthcare-related infections in nursing homes in one region of Italy. Findings highlight the need to improve the physical care environment (e.g., room ventilation), handwashing compliance, and appropriate use of antibiotics.

Barcode medication administration (BCMA) processes are designed to prevent some types of medication administration errors. This article discusses how BCMA workflows support error prevention and how to identify workarounds that negate these error prevention mechanisms.

Cesarean delivery can lead to adverse outcomes and is commonly used as a measure of obstetrical quality; however, these measures do not account for preexisting maternal and neonatal morbidities, which may increase risk for cesarean delivery. This article describes the development and testing of a new obstetrical quality measure that integrates cesarean delivery rates adjusted for preexisting high-risk maternal factors as well as maternal and neonatal morbidities. Among obstetricians in one large hospital, researchers found that this metric led to significantly different clinician rankings in terms of obstetrical quality (compared to rankings based on crude or adjusted cesarean delivery rates alone.) The authors suggest that this new metric can help identify opportunities for practice improvement among individual clinicians and institutions.

Reducing hospital 30-day readmissions is seen as a way to improve safety and reduce costs. Baltimore City mobile integrated health and community paramedicine (MIH-CP) was designed to improve transitional care from hospital to home. After one year in operation, MIH-CP performed a chart review to determine causes of readmission among patients in the program. Root cause analysis indicated that at least one social determinant of health (e.g., health literacy) played a role in preventable readmissions; the program was modified to improve transitional care.

Automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) can reduce medication dispensing errors by requiring pharmacist verification. This study found that medication overrides (i.e., bypassing pharmacist review before administration) in one pediatric emergency department were frequently not due to an emergent situation requiring immediate medication administration and could have been avoided.

Organizational culture can influence willingness to speak up about patient safety concerns. Based on focus groups and interviews with nurses, advanced practice providers, and physicians, this study found that the hierarchical culture of medicine presents a barrier to speaking up about safety concerns, but that certain factors (institutional, interpersonal, and individual) can modulate the impact of hierarchy. Interventions to promote speaking up behaviors should focus on engaging leaders across the institution and within the hierarchy.

Clinician well-being is increasingly seen as a quality and safety issue. This commentary discusses how systemic efforts must be built to enhance occupational well-being among clinicians. This approach discussed should consider both human factors and organizational design strategies to reduce burnout, cognitive overload, process frustration, and technology use.