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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 71 Results
Perspective on Safety April 26, 2023

Throughout 2022, AHRQ PSNet has shared research that elucidates the complex nature of misdiagnosis and diagnostic safety. This Year in Review explores recent work in diagnostic safety and ways that greater safety may be promoted using tools developed to improve diagnostic practices.

Throughout 2022, AHRQ PSNet has shared research that elucidates the complex nature of misdiagnosis and diagnostic safety. This Year in Review explores recent work in diagnostic safety and ways that greater safety may be promoted using tools developed to improve diagnostic practices.

Chicago, IL: American Medical Association; March 2023. 

Insurance policies can have consequences that reduce the safety of medical care. This latest version of the study surveyed 1000 physicians in 2022 to find that prior authorization requirements contributed to patient harm or potentially preventable hospitalization 33 percent of the time. 

Bilski J. Outpatient Surgery. February 2023;16-21

The concept of just culture was challenged in a high-profile medication error resulting in criminal charges for a nurse. This dialogue shares insights on the impact of the case on nurses, their profession, and patient safety.
Perspective on Safety December 14, 2022

This collaborative piece with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services discusses the current state of patient safety measurement, advancements in measuring patient safety, and explores future directions.

This collaborative piece with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services discusses the current state of patient safety measurement, advancements in measuring patient safety, and explores future directions.

Michelle Schreiber photograph

We spoke to Dr. Michelle Schreiber about measuring patient safety, the CMS National Quality Strategy, and the future of measurement. Michelle Schreiber, MD, is the Deputy Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and the Director of the Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Perspective on Safety November 16, 2022

Human factors engineering or ergonomics (HFE) is a scientific discipline broadly focused on interactions among humans and other elements of a system.

Human factors engineering or ergonomics (HFE) is a scientific discipline broadly focused on interactions among humans and other elements of a system.

Michelle Schreiber photograph

We spoke to Dr. Michelle Schreiber about measuring patient safety, the CMS National Quality Strategy, and the future of measurement. Michelle Schreiber, MD, is the Deputy Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and the Director of the Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

WebM&M Case November 16, 2022

A 58-year-old man underwent a complex surgery to replace his aortic valve. The surgery required prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time and cross-clamp time and there was a short delay in redosing the cardioplegic solution and the patient developed “stone heart” due to suspected ischemic injury and was unable to come off bypass. The patient was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and transported to the ICU to allow family members to see the patient before stopping life support.

Cooper J, Thomas BJ, Rebello E, et al for the APSF Criminalization of Error Task Force. APSF Newsletter. October 2022; 37(3):80-81

Criminalizing human error can deter the transparency necessary to learn from incidents and improve health care. This position statement articulates the importance of avoiding the criminal prosecution to mistakes to instead focus on system failures to prevent conditions that permit errors to harm patients.
Joseph MM, Mahajan P, Snow SK, et al. Pediatrics. 2022;150:e2022059673.
Children with emergent care needs are often cared for in complex situations that can diminish safety. This joint policy statement updates preceding recommendations to enhance the safety of care to children presenting at the emergency department. It expands on the application of topics within a high-reliability framework focusing on leadership, managerial factors, and organizational factors that support safety culture and workforce empowerment to support safe emergency care for children.
Curated Libraries
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.
Perspective on Safety April 27, 2022

This piece discusses the role that media plays in affecting patient safety.

This piece discusses the role that media plays in affecting patient safety.

Michael L. Millenson is the President of Health Quality Advisors LLC, author of the critically acclaimed book Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age, and an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He serves on the Board of Directors for Project Patient Care, and earlier in his career he was a healthcare reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he was nominated three times for a Pulitzer Prize. We spoke with him about how patient safety efforts are shaped by the media and how the role of media has changed since our original discussion on the role of media in patient safety (published in October of 2009 (https://psnet.ahrq.gov/perspective/conversation-charles-ornstein; https://psnet.ahrq.gov/perspective/media-essential-if-sometimes-arbitrary-promoter-patient-safety)).

Lin M, Horwitz LI, Gross RS, et al. J Patient Saf. 2022;18:e470-e476.
Error disclosure is an essential activity to addressing harm and establishing trust between clinicians and patients. Trainees in pediatric specialties at one urban medical center were provided with clinical vignettes depicting an error resulting in a safety event or near-miss and surveyed about error classification and disclosure. Participants agreed with disclosing serious and minor safety events, but only 7% agreed with disclosing a near miss event. Trainees’ decisions regarding disclosure considered the type of harm, parental preferences, ethical principles, and anticipatory guidance to address the consequences of the error.
Wyner D, Wyner F, Brumbaugh D, et al. Pediatrics. 2021;148:e2021053091.
The dismissal of parental concerns is a known contributor to medical errors in children. This story illustrates how poor communication, lack of respect, and anchoring bias  contributed to failure in the care of a boy. The authors share actions being taken by the hospital involved in the tragedy to partner with the family to improve diagnosis practices throughout their organization.
WebM&M Case July 28, 2021

This commentary presents two cases highlighting common medication errors in retail pharmacy settings and discusses the importance of mandatory counseling for new medications, use of standardized error reporting processes, and the role of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) in medical decision-making and ensuring medication safety.

Famolaro T, Hare R, Thornton S, et al. Surveys on Patient Safety CultureTM (SOPSTM). Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; March 2020. AHRQ Publication No. 20-0034.

A vibrant culture of safety is critical to achieving high reliability in health care. Ambulatory practices with weaker safety cultures can experience problems in teamwork, diagnosis, and staff turnover. The AHRQ Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture was designed to evaluate safety culture in outpatient clinics. The 2020 comparative database report assessed 10 safety culture domains in 1,475 medical offices. Respondents reported effective patient follow-up practices and scored well on equitable care delivery. Many practices cited time pressure and workload as persistent challenges to safety hazards. Although the practices surveyed are not nationally representative, they do provide a comparative safety culture snapshot for industry assessment. A past WebM&M commentary discussed safety hazards associated with productivity pressures in health care.
Shaw J, Bastawrous M, Burns S, et al. J Patient Saf. 2021;17:30-35.
Patients who have fallen in their homes and are found by a home healthcare worker are referred to as “found-on-floor” incidents. This study found that length of stay was a key theme in found-on-floor incidents and signaled underlying system-level issues, such as lack of informational continuity across the continuum of care (e.g., lack of standard documentation across settings, unclear messaging regarding clients’ home care needs), reliance on home healthcare workers instead of rehabilitation professionals, and lack of fall assessment follow-up. The authors recommend systems-level changes to improve fall prevention practices, such as use of electronic health records across the continuum of care and enhanced accountability in home safety.  
Hart WM, Doerr P, Qian Y, et al. AMA J Ethics. 2020;22:E298-E304.
Communication has become a foci of improvement efforts across the spectrum of patient safety. This article discusses a surgical complication incident that illustrates the importance of transparency, disclosure and collaboration as elements of a successful approach to communication that can successfully manage the impact of an adverse incident.
Chuang E, Cuartas PA, Powell T, et al. AJOB Empir Bioeth. 2020;11:148-159.
Before the emergence of COVID-19, the National Academy of Medicine had provided guidance on the reallocation of scarce medical resources – including ventilators – during extreme situations. Based on focus groups and key informant interviews conducted in 2018, this study sought to understand potential barriers arising from ethical conflicts to the implementation of these guidelines for ventilator allocation in the event of resource scarcity. Participants anticipated challenges reconciling this protocol with their roles and identities as health care providers, as well as concerns about emotional consequences, and fear of legal repercussions. These concerns raise questions about the performance of such a protocol in disaster scenarios and highlight the need for disaster preparedness drills and training.
Gandhi TK, Feeley D, Schummers D. NEJM Catalyst. 2020;1.
Health systems are encouraged to strive for zero preventable harm, but achieving this goal requires a comprehensive, systems-focused effort. This paper discusses the rationale for using ‘zero harm’ as a patient safety goal, and the importance of broadening the definition of harm to include non-physical harms (e.g., psychological harms), harms to caregivers and the healthcare workforce, and harms occurring beyond the hospital and across the care continuum. Four key elements required for successful systems change resulting in safety improvements are discussed: (1) change management, (2) culture of safety, (3) a learning system, and (4) patient engagement and codesign of healthcare.