Use of health information technology (HIT) can improve care but also lead to unexpected patient harm. In this analysis of incidents and near misses in radiation oncology, a major change in the use of the electronic health record (EHR) led to an increase in reported incidents and near misses. Leaders and HIT professionals should be aware of potential issues and develop a plan to minimize risk prior to major departmental changed including EHR changes.

Transfusion errors can have serious consequences. This retrospective analysis used a Canadian national database to characterize patient registration-related errors in the blood transfusion process. Findings indicate that registration errors most commonly occur in outpatient areas and emergency departments and can lead to delays in transfusion.

Incident reporting systems may be underutilized by medical trainees. This article describes a brief, interactive simulation activity to improve identification and reporting of patient safety hazards among medical students and interns.

Patient misidentification can lead to serious patient safety risks. Researchers used patient safety reports and root cause analyses (RCA) to characterize patient misidentification events in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The incidence of patient misidentification in inpatient and outpatient settings was similar and most commonly attributed to the absence of two unique patient identifiers. The authors identified three strategies to mitigate misidentification based on high-reliability principles: (1) develop policies for patient identification throughout the continuum of care, (2) develop policies to report and monitor patient misidentification measures, and (3) apply quality and process improvement tools to patient identification emphasizing use by front line staff.  

Operating room list errors are often cited as leading to wrong-side, wrong-site or wrong-procedure errors. This retrospective study analyzed two years of data from the United Kingdom and found that while no wrong-side, wrong-site or wrong-procedure surgeries were performed during the period, 0.29% of cases (86 cases) included a list error. Wrong-side list errors accounted for the majority of all list errors (72%). Tracking and reducing operating room list errors may help to prevent wrong-side, -site, or -procedure errors.

The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum both consider wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient surgeries to be never events. Despite improvement approaches ranging from the Universal Protocol to nonpayment for the procedures themselves and any consequent care, these serious surgical errors continue to occur. This study measured the incidence of incorrect surgeries in Veterans Health Administration medical centers from 2010 to 2017. Surgical patient safety events resulting in harm were rare and declined by more than two-thirds from 2000 to 2017. Dentistry, ophthalmology, and neurosurgery had the highest incidence of in–operating room adverse events. Root cause analysis revealed that 29% of events could have been prevented with a correctly performed time-out. A WebM&M commentary examined an incident involving a wrong-side surgery.

Despite efforts to prevent wrong-site surgeries, they continue to occur. This commentary discusses a near miss resulting from human factors and inadequate team communication to underscore the importance of reporting and analyzing incidents to enhance individual practice and teamwork.

Despite The Joint Commission requirement to use at least two patient identifiers when obtaining an imaging study, wrong-patient events still occur. This retrospective case review study determined the prevalence of reported near-miss wrong-patient events in radiology at two large academic hospitals. The overall event rate was 4 per 100,000 radiology studies.

By tracking improper surgical bookings and observing time-out procedures, this study measured near misses for wrong-site surgery and provided education about correct procedures when they encountered errors. After this education, surgical booking and time-out procedures improved.

Analysis of voluntarily reported errors in radiation therapy treatments resulted in systematic changes to treatment planning and delivery. After the system improvements were implemented, no similar errors occurred and multiple near misses were detected before patients were affected.

Although ensuring the correct patient receives the appropriate treatment may seem a straightforward task, patient misidentification has resulted in highly publicized errors. The Joint Commission has required standardized processes for avoiding patient misidentification as one of the National Patient Safety Goals. This qualitative study of nurses and residents identified barriers to following appropriate identification practices and characterizes workarounds that providers use to circumvent these perceived barriers. A near miss caused by a patient identification error is discussed in detail in this AHRQ WebM&M commentary.

Wrong-patient and wrong-site surgeries are considered never events, as they are devastating errors that arise from serious underlying safety problems. This study used Veterans Administration data to analyze the broader concept of "incorrect" surgical procedures, including near misses and errors in procedures performed outside the operating room (for example, in interventional radiology). Root cause analysis was used to identify underlying safety problems. Errors occurred in virtually all specialties that perform procedures. The authors found that many cases could be attributed in part to poor communication that may not have been addressed by preoperative time-outs; for example, several cases in which surgical implants were unavailable would have required communication well before the day of surgery. The authors argue for teamwork training based on crew resource management principles to address these serious errors.

This analysis of wrong-site surgery cases and near misses reported to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority found that many cases involved failure to follow The Joint Commission's Universal Protocol for preventing such errors.