BMJ Quality & Safety

OBJECTIVE: To improve timely and equitable access to postpartum blood pressure (BP) monitoring in individuals with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). METHODS: A quality improvement initiative was implemented at a large academic medical centre in the USA for postpartum individuals with HDP. The primary aim was to increase completed BP checks within 7 days of hospital discharge from 40% to 70% in people with HDP in 6 months. Secondary aims included improving rates of scheduled visits, completed visits within 3 days for severe HDP and unattended visits...

BACKGROUND: Overuse of medical care is a pervasive problem. Studies using hypothetical scenarios suggest that physicians' risk literacy influences medical decisions; real-world correlations, however, are lacking. We sought to determine the association between physicians' risk literacy and their real-world prescriptions of potentially hazardous drugs, accounting for conflicts of interest and perceptions of benefit-harm ratios in low-value prescribing scenarios. SETTING AND SAMPLE: Cross-sectional study-conducted online between June and October 2023 via field panels of Sermo (Hamburg, Germany)-with a convenience sample of 304 English general practitioners (GPs)...

BACKGROUND: The use of temporary doctors, known as locums, has been common practice for managing staffing shortages and maintaining service delivery internationally. However, there has been little empirical research on the implications of locum working for quality and safety. This study aimed to investigate the implications of locum working for quality and safety. METHODS: Qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 130 participants, including locums, patients, permanently employed doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals with governance and recruitment responsibilities for locums across primary and secondary healthcare organisations in the English NHS...

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OBJECTIVES: To compare medication errors identified at audit and via direct observation with medication errors reported to an incident reporting system at paediatric hospitals and to investigate differences in types and severity of errors detected and reported by staff. METHODS: This is a comparison study at two tertiary referral paediatric hospitals between 2016 and 2020 in Australia. Prescribing errors were identified from a medication chart audit of 7785 patient records...

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Diagnostic errors are associated with patient harm and suboptimal outcomes. Despite national scientific efforts to advance definition, measurement and interventions for diagnostic error, diagnosis in mental health is not well represented in this ongoing work. We aimed to summarise the current state of research on diagnostic errors in mental health and identify opportunities to align future research with the emerging science of diagnostic safety. We review conceptual considerations for defining and measuring diagnostic error, the application of these concepts to mental health settings, and the methods and subject matter focus of recent studies of diagnostic error in mental health...

Mixed methods research is a popular approach used to understand persistent and complex problems related to quality and safety, such as reasons why interventions are not implemented as intended or explaining differential outcomes. However, the quality and rigour of mixed methods research proposals and publications often miss opportunities for integration, which is the core of mixed methods. Achieving integration remains challenging, and failing to integrate reduces the benefits of a mixed methods approach. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to guide quality and safety researchers in planning and designing a mixed methods study that facilitates integration...

BACKGROUND: Nurses, midwives and paramedics comprise over half of the clinical workforce in the UK National Health Service and have some of the highest prevalence of psychological ill health. This study explored why psychological ill health is a growing problem and how we might change this. METHODS: A realist synthesis involved iterative searches within MEDLINE, CINAHL and HMIC, and supplementary handsearching and expert solicitation. We used reverse chronological quota screening and appraisal journalling to analyse each source and refine our initial programme theory...

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the number and burden of medication errors associated with prescription information transfer within the National Health Service (NHS) in England and the impact of implementing an interoperable prescription information system (a single digital prescribing record shared across NHS settings) in reducing these errors. METHODS: We constructed a probabilistic mathematical model. We estimated the number of transition medication errors that would be undetected by standard medicines reconciliation, based on published literature, and scaled this up based on the annual number of hospital admissions...

BACKGROUND: The consultation process, where a clinician seeks an opinion from another clinician, is foundational in medicine. However, the effectiveness of group diagnosis has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: To compare individual diagnosis to group diagnosis on two dimensions: group size (n=3 or 6) and group process (interactive or artificial groups). METHODOLOGY: Thirty-six internal or emergency medicine residents participated in the study. Initially, each resident worked through four written cases on their own, providing a primary diagnosis and a differential diagnosis...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

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BACKGROUND: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are known to potentially improve the management and outcomes of patients undergoing colorectal surgery, with limited evidence of their implementation in hospital networks and in a large population. We aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of an ERAS protocol in colorectal cancer surgery in the entire region of Piemonte, Italy, supported by an audit and feedback (A&F) intervention. METHODS: A large, stepped wedge, cluster randomised trial enrolled patients scheduled for elective surgery at 29 general surgery units (clusters)...

BACKGROUND: Efforts to mitigate unwarranted variation in the quality of care require insight into the 'level' (eg, patient, physician, ward, hospital) at which observed variation exists. This systematic literature review aims to synthesise the results of studies that quantify the extent to which hospitals contribute to variation in quality indicator scores. METHODS: Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane and Google Scholar were systematically searched from 2010 to November 2023...

BACKGROUND: Diagnostic errors have been attributed to reasoning flaws caused by cognitive biases. While experiments have shown bias to cause errors, physicians of similar expertise differed in susceptibility to bias. Resisting bias is often said to depend on engaging analytical reasoning, disregarding the influence of knowledge. We examined the role of knowledge and reasoning mode, indicated by diagnosis time and confidence, as predictors of susceptibility to anchoring bias. Anchoring bias occurs when physicians stick to an incorrect diagnosis triggered by early salient distracting features (SDF) despite subsequent conflicting information...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.