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Frontline care providers such as nurses play an important role in reducing preventable harm. This study used qualitative methods (direct observation and participatory workshops) to explore nurses’ experiences implementing harm prevention practices when admitting an older adult to the hospital. Researchers identified barriers (e.g., lack of resources, information gaps) and enablers (e.g., teamwork, reminders) to harm prevention during the admission process.

Unintentionally retained foreign objects can be exacerbated by fatigue, distractions, and communication errors. This article highlights the importance of effective teamwork, high reliability orientation, and standardized surgical count methods to minimize the persistent problem of retained surgical items.

Strong patient safety culture is a cornerstone to sustained safety improvements. This cross-sectional study explored nurses’ perceptions about patient safety culture. Identified areas of strength included non-punitive responses to errors and teamwork, and areas for improvement focused on supervisor and manager expectations, responses, and actions to promote safety and open communication. The authors highlight the importance of measuring patient safety culture in order to improve hospitals’ patient safety improvement practices, overall performance and quality of healthcare delivery.

Electronic health record (EHR) system implementation should optimize interoperability and support clinician decision making. This commentary discusses a strategy to aid in the sociotechnical design of interfaces and involvement of the myriad of individuals that use EHRs, including patients.

High reliability organization (HRO) principles used in other high-risk industries (such as aviation) can be applied patient safety. This article provides an overview of how HRO principles (preoccupation with failure, situational awareness, reluctance to simplify, deference to expertise, and commitment to resilience) can be successfully applied in dentistry.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in the use of telehealth. This article summarizes several challenges that need to be addressed (e.g., human factors, provider-patient relationships, structural, and technological factors) in order to support continuous improvement in the safety of health care delivered via telemedicine.

Human factors play an important role in contributing to and preventing adverse events. This study found that integrating human factors into a new root cause analysis process led to an increase in the number of strong interventions implemented after adverse events.

Patient safety learning laboratories (PSLL) encourage a cross-disciplinary, collaborative approach to problem solving. This study reports on how a learning ecosystem supported the success of three distinct PSLLs. Qualitative and quantitative results reveal four types of alignment and supporting practices that contribute to the success of the learning laboratories.

Analysis of closed malpractice claims can be used to identify potential safety hazards in a variety of clinical settings. This analysis of closed emergency department malpractice claims indicates that diagnostic errors dominate, and clinical judgment and documentation categories continue to be associated with a higher likelihood of payout. Subcategories and contributing factors are also discussed.

Certain processes and routines, such as checklists, are widely used in healthcare settings to improve patient safety. In this article, the author describes two proposed approaches for the study of healthcare safety routines using human factors and a safety-II perspective.

Leadership engagement in safety is essential to implementing sustainable change. This qualitative study found that rational persuasion and legitimating were the most frequently used and certain factors – such as organizational culture, safety beliefs, and leadership style – can impact how safety professionals influence managers making safety decisions in healthcare settings. The authors discuss the importance of both technical and non-technical skills to enhance influence among safety professionals.

Reporting incidents and errors is a cornerstone of patient safety improvement efforts, but challenges remain, including low quality of reports and low rates of reporting. This article discusses the technological challenges of incident reporting and offers recommendations to improve usability in future reporting systems.

Many interventions targeting healthcare-acquired condition reduction and prevention target a single condition, rather than the risks of multiple conditions. This proof-of-concept study discusses clinician feedback on a proposed dashboard to enhance clinicians’ management combining the risks of multiple conditions (catheter-associated urinary tract infections, pressure injuries, and falls).

Health equity in maternal safety is a major patient safety goal. Researchers interviewed health care professionals, including frontline nurses and physicians, chief medical officers, and quality and safety officers, from high- and low-performing hospitals. Six themes emerged differentiating high and low performers: 1) senior leadership involved in day-to-day quality activities and dedicated to quality improvement, 2) a strong focus on standards and standardized care, 3) strong nurse-physician communication and teamwork, 4) adequate physician and nurse staffing and supervision, 5) sharing of performance data with nurses and other frontline clinicians, and 6) explicit awareness that racial and ethnic disparities exist and that racism and bias in the hospital can lead to differential treatment. PSNet offers a Patient Safety Primer and Curated Library on maternal safety.