Top picks: International patient safety insights

Summary

Our free platform for patient safety – the hub – was launched in 2019 with the aim of sharing learning for safer care. We now have members from all around the world, and many are helping to shape the hub by sharing their patient safety insights through blogs, interviews, tools and practical examples. 

In this Top picks, we showcase some of our international contributions, and celebrate our ever-growing network of people who are passionate about reducing avoidable harm.

Content

From the United States

1. Diagnostic errors and delays: why quality investigations are key

Dan Cohen, international consultant in patient safety and clinical risk management, and Trustee for Patient Safety Learning, looks at the challenges around diagnostic error and delay,

2. A complex adaptive systems approach to patient safety

Kumar Subramaniam, CEO at SafeTower, argues that it is time to reimagine safety event reporting and management solutions that guide, not prescribe, investigations and improvement actions.

3. Patient Safety Spotlight interview with Soojin Jun, Co-founder of Patients for Patient Safety US 

Soojin Jun talks explains how her personal experience of harm motivated her to work in healthcare and campaign for patient safety, the power of collaboration in improving healthcare safety and how healthcare workers can take steps to improve their own patient interactions.

4. Harmful attitudes towards gynae surgery as a discipline – a risk to patient safety 

An interview with US-based gynaecology surgeon Jocelyn Fitzgerald, looking at the knock-on patient safety issues caused by negative attitudes towards her specialty.

5. Enhancing patient safety through effective communication in clinical trials and cancer care: a blog by Tambre Leighn

Tambre discusses how effective communication is essential for ensuring patient safety in clinical trials and cancer care, and why poor communication can lead to negative outcomes.

6. Now is not soon enough: Patients, families and the general public have much to gain from the US National Patient Safety Board Act

Olivia Lounsbury, Committee Lead for Patients for Patient Safety US's National Patient Safety Oversight committee, looks at a new Bill calling for the creation of a US National Patient Safety Board (NPSB).

From Africa

1. The 'Minutes of the Minute': a blog by Ehi Iden - OSHAfrica

Ehi Iden discusses the importance of documenting and learning from patient safety incidences. Using a fictional story to draw parallels from, Ehi highlights how accountability, leadership and reporting incidences will help us keep staff and patients safe.

2. Friends of African Nursing (FoAN): Training perioperative nurses across Africa

FoAN's Chair of Trustees Kate Woodhead describes the challenges facing nurses working in perioperative care in many African countries.

3. 'Mind the Implementation Gap': the challenges facing Ethiopia

Yakob Seman Ahmed reflects on Patient Safety Learning's recent report 'Mind the implementation gap: The persistence of avoidable harm in the NHS' and the similar challenges Ethiopia faces in implementing its own standards and policies.

4. Patient Safety Spotlight interview with Chidiebere Ibe, medical illustrator and medical student

Chidiebere Ibe is passionate about increasing representation of Black people in all forms of medical literature. In this interview, he explains how lack of representation at all levels of the healthcare system leads to disparities in healthcare experiences and outcomes.

5. Spotlight on Sudan: How can we improve healthcare services during war? 

From his observations of healthcare conditions in Sudan, Dr Ahmed Khalafalla presents some ideas on how we can improve healthcare services during times of war and uncertainty to make healthcare services accessible for those who need them.

More international insights…

1. ‘Knowledge is the driver of change and will make a difference': a blog from Peter Lachman

Peter explains why safety must be embedded into what we do every day, not what we do only after harm has occurred, and why we need to constantly ask ourselves “what do we need to do to be safe?”

2. Patient Safety Spotlight interview with Isabela Castro, patient advocate

Isabela shares how her experience of losing her baby daughter to avoidable harm in 2006 led to her involvement in patient safety advocacy, and talks about the vital role of patient campaigners in driving the movement to reduce avoidable harm.

3. Patient Safety Spotlight interview with Roohil Yusuf, Global Pharmacy Adviser at Save the Children international

Roohil talks to us about the vital role of pharmacists in making sure medications help patients, rather than causing harm and highlights the global threat of substandard and counterfeit medicines.

4. “Listening to a patient’s history for longer can help doctors make the right diagnosis”

Mary Dahm and Carmel Crock tell us more about their research to explore the relationship between communication and diagnostic accuracy.

5. Mother knows best – a blog by Dr Abha Agrawal

Dr Abha Agrawal shares with the hub her family's experience of going into hospital and demonstrates how patients and families can be true partners in patient safety.

6. The patient's chair: a blog by Dr Faisal Saeed

Dr Faisal Saeed talks about the patient-provider power imbalance using an AI generated image of two chairs to illustrate his points.

7. Patient Safety Spotlight interview with Josie Gilday, Global Medical Adviser at Save the Children International 

Josie tells us about the nursing error that first sparked her interest in patient safety, how a just culture helps healthcare workers and systems learn from their mistakes, and how her love of skiing has inspired her to think differently about risk in healthcare.

Join the hub

Do you have insights to share around patient safety? Are you a member of the hub? Why not join our global community today (it’s free and easy to sign up) and submit an article or share a resource? You can also contact the editorial team at [email protected].

Could you be an international Topic leader for the hub?

We are looking for someone based outside of the UK, with expertise in an area of patient safety to join our team of volunteer Topic leaders. 

Our topic leaders are an integral part of ensuring the value of content on the hub. We want to ensure that quality content is published on the hub and that we have credible experts in specific topic areas to

• contribute personal blogs sharing expertise and insights
• advise us on the validity of posted content
• suggest areas to develop content in
• lead and respond to discussions within our communities.

If you’d like to apply to become a topic please visit our Topic leader page where you’ll find a job description and application form.