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Acute care facilities in Pennsylvania are required to report all Incidents and Serious Events to the state’s Patient Safety Authority. This study updates the 2020 report. Similar to prior reports, Error Related to Procedure/Treatment/Test remained the most commonly reported events, followed by Medication Error, Complication of Procedure/Treatment/Test, and Fall.

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.

Drug shortages can result in patient harm, such as dosing errors from a medication substitution. In this study, 28 of the 30 most frequently used medications in the emergency department experienced shortages between 2006 and 2019. The most common reasons for shortages were manufacturing delays and increased demand. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing drug shortages.

Prior research has found that unsafe opioid prescribing practices are common. This retrospective study explored the association between state opioid prescribing laws and trends in opioid and nonopioid pain treatment among commercially insured adults in the United States. Findings suggest that these laws were not associated with statistically significant changes in prescribing outcomes, but the authors note that some of these estimates were imprecise and may not be generalizable to non-commercially insured populations.

Based on survey responses from 1,002 participants, this study evaluated how social media users assess, interact and engage with information related to the illegal sales of prescription medicines. Findings suggest that individuals generally perceive online pharmacies and social media platforms to be safe and respondents are confident in their ability to acquire legitimate medicines. The authors note that this false confidence has the potential to lead to patient harm given the prevalence of counterfeit and substandard medication available on these platforms.

Hospitals participating in the voluntary Leapfrog program must publicly report data on several quality measures. Hospitals that participated in the Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) Evaluation Tool, which measures medication safety, had a mean score of 59.3% at baseline. Hospitals that received negative feedback showed greater improvement than hospitals that received positive feedback, demonstrating the utility of public reporting in improving quality.

The opioid epidemic is an ongoing patient safety issue. This literature review examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on opioid surveillance research in the United Kingdom. Of studies conducted during the pandemic, most explored the impact of the pandemic on access to opioids or opioid substitution therapy.

Adverse events associated with pharmacy compounding (e.g., parenteral nutrition, sterile compounding) are well-documented. This survey of state medical and osteopathic boards gathered information about compounding-associated adverse events in physician offices and use of compounding standards. Findings indicate that the incidence of in-office compounding-related adverse events is low and that the majority of respondents had not incorporated compounding standards into their regulations.

Using administrative data and patient interviews, this study sought to estimate opioid-related adverse events in adults discharged from one Canadian hospital. Among patients who filled at least one opioid prescription in the 90 days following hospital discharge, approximately 16% experienced an opioid-related emergency department visit, hospital readmission, or death. Longer duration of use and higher daily dose were associated with increased risk of adverse events. Results from this study can inform policies and strategies to limit opioid prescription dose and duration.  

Drug shortages are an ongoing threat to safe patient care. This commentary discusses the impact of COVID-19 on medication supply and demand, and the resulting drug shortages. The authors provide several recommendations for reducing future drug shortages in times of crises, including increasing stockpiles and creating a critical drug list with potential substitutes.

This article discusses global drug shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on patient outcomes and the role of pharmacists and policymakers in mitigating emerging drug shortages related to the pandemic. 

Researchers measured the safety performance of electronic health record (EHR) systems using simulated medication orders that can lead to adverse events or death in order to evaluate how well the systems identified these errors, and the mitigating effect of computerized physician order entry and clinical decision support (CDS) tools. Safety performance increased moderately over the 10-year study period but there was considerable variation in performance based on the level of decision support (basic or more complex) and EHR vendor; safety risks persist despite EHR implementation.