One of the most common care areas where medication errors occur is the emergency department. Tighter connections with pharmacy staff can help.

Careful consideration of the indications for placing inferior vena cava filters, the indications for removing filters, as well as follow-up care and evaluation of patients with retrievable filters, can all help reduce the likelihood of complications.

Evaluation of falls outside direct patient care may provide additional opportunities to address this organizationwide challenge. Adoption of standardized strategies (e.g., safe patient handling practices) helps to identify patient risk factors and could mitigate injurious patient falls in radiology departments.

Clinicians can strive to prevent patient harm associated with negative-pressure wound therapy through appropriate patient selection, proper device application, and frequent monitoring.

Language barriers impede access to healthcare, can compromise quality of care, and may increase the risk of adverse health outcomes. There are strategies for communicating with patients who have limited English proficiency.

A skin and soft-tissue infection is painful, expensive, and unnecessary. Maintenance of skin integrity is an ongoing process and is vitally important to preserve residents’ health and well-being.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority believes Pennsylvania facilities are on the right path to prevent wrong-site surgery. This article discusses trends before and after Authority interventions as well as considerations for procedures involving the knee.

Significant reduction in malpractice claims and payouts in the Commonwealth since 2002, as well as trends associated with Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority efforts, are encouraging signs of progress in improving patient safety in Pennsylvania.

Ana Pujols-McKee, MD, helped provided leadership and vision to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority in its mission to reduce and eliminate medical error since becoming board chairperson in May 2006.

Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority analysts respond to a query from the American College of Emergency Physicians about procedural safety in the emergency department.