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What’s New in the
Patient Safety World
April 2021
ECRI Top 10 Patient
Safety Concerns for 2021
ECRI has released it’s annual list
of >Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns” for 2021. (ECRI
2021). ECRI is quick to point out that this year’s Top 10 list is dominated
by topics having a relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s the full list of ECRI’s top 10
patient safety issues for 2021:
- Racial and ethnic
disparities in healthcare
- Emergency preparedness and
response in aging services
- Pandemic preparedness
across the health system
- Supply chain interruptions
- Drug shortages
- Telehealth workflow
challenges
- Improvised use of medical
devices
- Methotrexate therapy
- Peripheral vascular harm
- Infection risk from
aerosol-generating procedures
- All-hazards vulnerability assessment
- Shelter-in-place; evacuation; or modified admission,
transfer, or transition protocols
- Communication plans for staff, residents, families,
emergency responders, and the public
- Crisis standards of care, including modified visitation
- Staffing and scheduling
- Supplies and equipment
- After Action Reports (AARs) to identify successes and
improvement opportunities
Item #6 “Telehealth workflow challenges” is a topic we’ve recently addressed. In our November 2020 What's New in
the Patient Safety World column “Telemedicine
Here to Stay But Use It Safely” we pointed out that one of the few positive
things to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic (yes, there are some positives!) is
that telemedicine has flourished. We talked about the advantages of
telemedicine but also pointed out the barriers and challenges to effective
telemedicine.
ECRI and the ISMP PSO reviewed a sample of 42
telehealth-related events and found several evolving themes, including:
- Poor WIFI accessibility in
the healthcare setting
- Inadequate or
inappropriate monitoring
- Inadequate availability of
monitors and rooms with monitoring capability
- Inadequate language
services
- Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy concerns
Our November 2020 What's New in the Patient Safety World
column “Telemedicine
Here to Stay But Use It Safely” discussed challenges in telemedicine
sessions due to patients having impaired hearing, neurological conditions
impacting ability to communicate, and patient-related difficulties dealing with
technology.
We refer you to ECRI’s full list (ECRI
2021) for details on all the other top 10 concerns.
References:
ECRI. Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2021. ECRI 2021
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