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The impact of nursing home inspections to ensure the quality and safety of the service environment is lacking. Weaknesses in the process became more explicit as poor long-term care infection control was determined to be a contributor to the early spread of COVID amongst nursing home residents. This announcement outlines a targeted inspection initiative to assess whether organizations previously sited have made progress toward improving workforce safety.

The strengthening of diagnostic error research and processes can strategically ensure lasting diagnostic improvement. The ‘‘Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act of 2020’’ outlines characteristics of a proposed Federal program to enhance agency cooperation and coordination to improve diagnosis in health care by addressing systemic weaknesses, knowledge gaps, and training issues in the workforce.

Anticoagulant medications are known to be high-risk for adverse drug events. Although direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) require less monitoring than warfarin, they are still associated with an increased risk of patient harm if not prescribed and administered correctly. The Joint Commission has issued a new sentinel event alert to raise awareness of the risks related to DOACs, and in particular, the challenges associated with stopping bleeding in patients on these medications. The alert suggests that health care organizations develop patient education materials, policies, and evidence-based guidelines to ensure that DOACs and reversal agents are used appropriately. A past WebM&M commentary discussed common errors related to the use of DOACs.

Poor safety culture and lack of available resources to provide high-quality care can hinder safety in long-term care facilities. This set of regulations will revise requirements for long-term care facilities in areas such as clinical practice standards, service delivery, patient-centeredness, and infection control. The deadline for officially submitting comments on the proposed rule was September 14, 2015.

This bill requires that Pennsylvania hospitals and nursing homes implement an internal infection control plan and report hospital-acquired infections.

These updated guidelines include design changes, such as the adoption of private rooms to reduce medical error, interruptions, and hospital-acquired infections. The 2018 edition was developed as a 3-volume set covering hospitals, outpatient facilities, and residential health, care, and support facilities. Each provides information on design elements that enhance safety. The material also includes risk assessments to identify space concerns that could lead to unsafe conditions.

This bill calls for a prohibition of mandatory overtime and limiting the work week to 12 hours a day or 60 hours a week for non-supervisory health care employees in Pennsylvania.  It is presently under consideration by Pennsylvania's General Assembly.

In this statement, AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy reviews the work of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and other health care entities to build support for research and improvements in patient safety.