Journal of patient safety
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Journal of patient safety · Sep 2020
Impact of Teamwork and Communication Training Interventions on Safety Culture and Patient Safety in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review.
This study aimed to narratively summarize the literature reporting on the effect of teamwork and communication training interventions on culture and patient safety in emergency department (ED) settings. ⋯ Overall, teamwork and communication training interventions improve the safety culture in ED settings and may positively affect patient outcome. The implementation of safety culture programs may be considered to reduce incidence of medical errors and adverse events.
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Journal of patient safety · Sep 2020
Improving Patient Safety in Handover From Intensive Care Unit to General Ward: A Systematic Review.
Despite of the increasing knowledge about patient safety improvements in the handover process in hospitals, we still lack knowledge about what magnitude of patient safety gains can be expected from improvements in handover between the intensive care unit (ICU) and the general ward. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate which handover tools are devised and evaluated with the aim of improving patient safety in the handover process from ICU to ward and whether the described handover tools fulfill their purpose. ⋯ Not many well-conducted studies can shed light on this important topic. Giving patients and their families a supplementary written or verbal status report before transfer might improve patient safety. The introduction of a Liaison Nurse may be effective in improving communication between ICU and ward staff, which might reduce risks in patient safety. However, there is no evidence of improved mortality and/or readmission rates after introducing handover tools in the transfer from ICU to ward.
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Journal of patient safety · Sep 2020
Using Deprescribing Practices and the Screening Tool of Older Persons' Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions Criteria to Reduce Harm and Preventable Adverse Drug Events in Older Adults.
Approximately 98% of older Americans are simultaneously taking 5-or more-medications to manage at least 2 chronic conditions. Polypharmacy and the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) are a concern for older adults because they pose a risk for adverse drug events (ADEs), which are associated with emergency department visits and hospitalizations and are an important patient safety priority. We sought to review the evidence of patient safety practices aimed at reducing preventable ADEs in older adults, specifically (i) deprescribing interventions to reduce polypharmacy and (ii) use of the Screening Tool of Older Persons' Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) to reduce PIMs. ⋯ Deprescribing interventions and interventions using the STOPP criteria seem effective in reducing polypharmacy and PIMs in older adults, respectively. Future research on the effectiveness of these approaches on clinical outcomes, the comparative effectiveness of different multicomponent interventions using these approaches, and how to most effectively implement them to improve uptake and evidence-based care is needed.
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Journal of patient safety · Sep 2020
Early Warning Scores to Predict Noncritical Events Overnight in Hospitalized Medical Patients: A Prospective Case Cohort Study.
Physicians are often called to evaluate patients overnight with varying levels of clinical deterioration. Early warning scores predict critical clinical deterioration in patients; however, it is unknown whether they are able to reliably predict which patients will need to be seen overnight and whether these patients will require further resource use. ⋯ Both MEWS and NEWS have fair ability to predict patients who will need to be seen overnight. This may be useful for improving handover and resource allocation for overnight care.
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Journal of patient safety · Sep 2020
Impact of an Obstetrical Hospitalist Program on the Safety Events in a Mid-Sized Obstetrical Unit.
Because internal medicine hospitalist programs were developed to address issues in medicine such as a need to improve quality, improve efficiency, and decrease healthcare cost, obstetrical (OB) hospitalist models were developed to address needs specific to the obstetrics and gynecology field. Our objective was to compare outcomes measured by occurrence of safety events before and after implementation of an OB hospitalist program in a mid-sized OB unit. ⋯ It has been speculated that implementation of an OB hospitalist model would be associated with improved maternal and neonatal outcomes; our regional OB referral hospital demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in OB safety events after the OB hospitalist program implementation.