The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers many practical tools and resources to help healthcare organizations, providers, and others make patient care safer These tools are based on research, and they can assist staff in hospitals, emergency departments, long-term care facilities, and ambulatory settings to prevent avoidable complications of care. The purpose of this challenge is to elicit new narratives of how AHRQ toolkits are being used. Up to ten winners will receive $10,000 each. Submissions are due October 27, 2023.

Originally published in 2005, these Guiding Principles outlines 10 guiding principles to support medication management as patients transfer from one care environment to another, both within one care setting (e.g., hospital) and between care settings (e.g., hospital to long term care). The Guiding Principles are person centered, equity, and coordination and collaboration.

This bill submits amendments to existing US federal law to strengthen state-organized efforts to improve health care-associated infection control efforts, pediatric safety initiatives, care transitions, reporting systems and antimicrobial stewardship programs.

This toolkit provides information for hospitals to help reduce preventable readmissions among Medicaid patients. Building on hospital experience with utilizing the materials since 2014, this updated guide explains how to determine root causes for readmissions, evaluate existing interventions, develop a set of improvement strategies, and optimize care transition processes.

Patient safety in ambulatory care is receiving increased attention. This guide includes case studies that explore how Open Notes, team-based care delivery, and patient and family advisory committees have shown promise as patient engagement and safety improvement mechanisms in primary care settings.

The AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, 2nd edition, can help primary care practices implement improvement actions to reduce the complexity of health care, increase patient understanding of health information, and enhance support for patients of all health literacy levels.

Misrepresentation of findings, either by accident or design, can result in ineffective use of resources and poor decision-making. This investigation found inconsistencies in the information reported by the Veterans Health Administration in the widely-publicized analysis discussing weaknesses in the organization that resulted in delayed care. The author calls for the assessment to be revisited to ensure conclusions and work toward improvement are verifiable to augment the safety and timeliness of care provided to veterans.

This report analyzes the literature discussing emergency department discharge processes and highlights elements of high-quality discharges and risk factors for suboptimal discharges. The in-depth review summarizes interventions currently implemented to augment discharge procedures, care coordination, and the identification of patients more susceptible to poor discharge.

This investigation outlines how inadequate care contributed to the death of a child who developed sepsis while receiving treatment for the flu. Describing failures associated with telephone triage and out-of-hours service in the course of his care, the report recommends organization-wide efforts to improve safety, including providing guidelines for staff and support or families.

Infants discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit to home are particularly vulnerable to care coordination errors. This four-component toolkit includes materials to help hospitals implement a coach program to educate providers and families about common communication and health concerns that arise during this transition.

This toolkit provides resources to help augment testing processes in ambulatory care settings, including tools for identifying areas of concern and measuring improvements.

This Web site offers a toolkit to improve the safety of handoffs, patient transfers, and post-hospitalization medication use.

This column offers advice for consumers on what personal health and medical information to prepare before going to the emergency department.

This report compiles public and private data to provide insight into the quality and safety of patient care in Australian hospitals.

This section of the AHA Quality Center Web site links to a collection of materials on improving patient safety and preventing medical errors.

The Joint Commission requires time outs prior to surgical incision. This Web site includes information and resources for National Time Out Day, an initiative to raise awareness on the importance of surgical team time outs. The annual observation is in June.

This article reports on the results from Joint Commission site inspections of five Boston-area hospitals.