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 269 Results

FDA and ISMP Lists of Look-Alike Drug Names With Recommended Tall Man Letters.

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Food and Drug Administration and Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Plymouth Meeting, PA; Institute for Safe Medication Practices; January 2023.

Mistakes associated with look-alike medication names are a safety concern in health care. Tall man, or mixed case, lettering is one recommended strategy to reduce confusion associated with similarities in drug names. This list includes medications recognized by clinicians and professional organizations as those suited for the application of mixed case lettering to make their use safer.

Getting Started with a Communication and Resolution Program (CRP) Policy or Commitment Statement to CR.

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Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement Policy Committee. Seattle, WA: University of Washington; 2022

Communication and resolution programs (CRP) show promise for improving patient and clinician communication after a harmful preventable adverse event. This tool provides a framework for organizational messaging on CRPs for patients and families.

Patient Safety Awareness Week.

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Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

This website provides resources for promoting patient safety during Patient Safety Awareness Week. The 2023 observance will be held March 12-18.

Action Planning Tool for the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture.

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Yount N, Edelman S, Sorra J, et al. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; November 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 23-0011.

Improving the culture of safety within health care is an essential component of preventing or reducing errors. Designed for users of the AHRQ safety culture surveys, this updated tool will help organizations develop an action plan and proactively discuss potential barriers to safety culture improvement efforts and how to address them. The revision is structured around a 3-step process that focuses on areas to improve, initiative planning, and plan communication. The kit now includes an action plan template.

Toolkit To Improve Antibiotic Use in Ambulatory Care.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; October 2022.

Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing is associated with increased risk potential. This toolkit assists in simplifying the antibiotic decision-making process. It is organized around a four-point decision aide and contains resources on using a stewardship program, communicating about prescribing and applying best practices for common infectious diseases.

Calibrate Dx: A Resource to Improve Diagnostic Decisions.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; October 2022. AHRQ Publication no. 22(23)-0047-2-EF.

Delayed, wrong, and missed diagnoses are common challenges for patients, families, and clinicians, yet physicians rarely receive feedback on their actions to enhance diagnostic decision making. This publication provides clinicians with tools to assess and calibrate diagnostic performance in support of individual learning and improvement.

How To Create a My Medicines List.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; October 2022.

This tool provides a printable template and step-by-step instructions for patients to create a visual reference for keeping track of medications.

Curated Libraries

Diagnostic Safety

October 10, 2022

Selected PSNet materials for a general safety audience focusing on improvements in the diagnostic process and the strategies that support them to prevent diagnostic errors from harming patients.

Patient Safety Incident Response Framework.

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London, England: NHS England; August 2022.

Effective response to medical error requires a comprehensive systemic and process-focused incident examination approach to ensure organizational learning. This framework will replace the current method used by the UK National Health Service (NHS) to support overarching patient safety strategic aims for the agency.

Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; October 2020.

Challenges to establishing and sustaining a safety culture in a nursing home include insufficient staffing and a tendency to blame individuals for problems. This website hosts the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) Nursing Home Survey along with additional materials to assist organizations in using the management tool effectively. It includes a user's guide that explains how to conduct a survey on patient safety in a nursing home and report the results. The resource provides guidance on topics such as data collection, data organization, survey forms, and nursing home staff selection. The 2022 data collection period is now closed.

The Nursing Home Expert Panel’s Falls Investigation Guide Toolkit: How-To Guide.

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Portland, OR: Oregon Patient Safety Commission; 2022.

Patient falls are common sentinel events. The latest revision of this toolkit shares insights on applying the tenets of root cause analysis to falls investigations.

The Uneven Burden of Maternal Mortality in the U.S.

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NIHCM Foundation. Washington DC: National Institute for Health Care Management. August 2, 2022.

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.

Measure Dx: A Resource to Identify, Analyze, and Learn from Diagnostic Safety Events.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; July 2022. AHRQ Publication No. 22-0038.

Diagnostic improvement continues to gain focus as a goal in health care. The Measure Dx tool provides teams with guidance and strategies to detect and learn from diagnostic errors in their organizations. It includes a checklist to gauge readiness for implementation, measurement strategies, and recommendations for analyzing data and translating findings into front line care.

Supplemental Item Set for Nursing Home SOPS: Call for Pilot Participants.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Quality and Research; June 2022.

The potential for workplace violence degrades patient and staff safety. AHRQ is developing a survey item set that will help nursing homes identify and improve factors associated with workplace safety. The Workplace Safety Supplemental Item Set will assess the extent to which nursing homes’ organizational culture supports workplace safety. The new supplemental item set can be administered optionally at the end of the SOPS Nursing Home Survey. AHRQ will build this new measure of workplace safety upon its existing and highly successful SOPS program. This announcement calls for nursing homes to participate in a pilot study to test the application of the supplemental item set in the field.

Patient Safety Indicators Overview.

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) represent quality measures that make use of a hospital's available administrative data. The PSIs reflect the quality of inpatient care but also focus on preventable complications and iatrogenic events. Investigators have found PSIs to be a useful tool for understanding adverse events and identifying possible areas of improvement within health care delivery systems. Although relying on administrative data has clear limitations, select PSIs have been shown to accurately identify certain accidental inpatient injuries. The AHRQ Web site offers publicly available comparative data, along with resources and tools. Patient safety measurement methods are discussed in an AHRQ WebM&M perspective. Originally released in 2005, the PSI were most recently updated in July 2022.

Common Formats for Event Reporting - Diagnostic Safety Version 1.0

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Effective measurement of diagnostic error is essential for understanding the problem and generating improvements. The Common Formats provide a standard terminology for voluntary reporting of diagnostic errors to patient safety organizations. This website provides access to tools supporting use of the Common Formats that include forms and a users' guide.

Surveys on Patient Safety Culture.

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Rockville MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2020.

Culture has been described as a key to establishing high reliability organizations. The National Quality Forum's Safe Practices for Healthcare and the Leapfrog Group both mandate hospitals to regularly assess their safety culture. This AHRQ Web site provides validated safety culture survey tools (Hospital, Medical Office, Nursing Home, Community Pharmacy, Ambulatory Surgery Center) and user guides health care organizations can use to implement the surveys. Organizations can also use the AHRQ database to compare their Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) results. In addition, reports are available that summarize the benchmarking data across cohorts nationwide. An AHRQ WebM&M perspective discussed how to establish a safety culture.

Toolkit for Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI in ICUs.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; April 2022.

Healthcare-associated infections can result in significant morbidity and mortality. Developed by AHRQ, this customizable, educational toolkit uses the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) and other evidence-based practices to provide clinical and cultural guidance to support practice changes to prevent and reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) rates in intensive care units (ICUs). Sections of the kit include items such an action plan template, implementation playbook, and team interaction aids.

Safer Dx Checklist: 10 High-Priority Practices for Diagnostic Excellence.

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Houston TX; Baylor College of Medicine: 2022.

Assessment can identify the current state of a process or program to reveal areas of weakness and inform improvement implementation efforts. This scenario-based tool focuses on 10 areas of an organization’s journey to support diagnostic safety.

TeamSTEPPS® for Diagnosis Improvement.

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Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; March 2022.

The recognition of diagnosis as a team activity is energizing new diagnostic process initiatives. Building on the established TeamSTEPPS® principles, this new TeamSTEPPS course includes seven training modules, team and knowledge assessment tools, and implementation guidance to develop or enhance communication across the care team to improve the accuracy and timeliness of diagnosis.

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