In the past decade, the perception of a bioterrorist threat has increased and created a demand on life scientists to consider the potential security implications of dual use research. This article examines a selection of proposed moral obligations for life scientists that have emerged to meet these concerns and the extent to which they can be considered reasonable. It also describes the underly...

BACKGROUND Preventable medical harm is a leading cause of death in the United States. Incident reporting systems have been identified as the primary method to capture medical error and harm. Incidents are rarely reported, particularly among physician trainees. METHODS We conducted a single-center, quasi-experimental study to examine the effect of education on the importance of and how to file...

Program/Project Description, including Goals: In 2010, we piloted the comprehensive unit based safety program (CUSP) in the operating room with the goal of preventing harm and improving teamwork and safety culture, and a specific focus on addressing higher than expected rates of surgical site infections in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. The team included surgeons, anesthesiology provid...

OBJECTIVES To calculate the costs associated with implementing and operating an inpatient bar-code medication administration (BCMA) system in the community hospital setting and to estimate the cost per harmful error prevented. STUDY DESIGN This is a retrospective, observational study. Costs were calculated from the hospital perspective and a cost-consequence analysis was performed to estimate...

Background: Voluntary hospital reporting systems are potentially valuable sources of information about medical errors and adverse events. This study examined the extent and variation in the reporting of medication errors and adverse drug events in a voluntary hospital incident reporting system. Methods: A retrospective analysis of received incident reports of potential and preventable adverse d...

Abstract Background Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) leading to adverse drug events (ADEs) are of special interest because they represent preventable medication errors. Preventable ADE can result in errors involving the manifestation patient outcomes. Given high complexity critically ill cardiac patients, it is important learn how Clinical Drug Decision Support System (CDDSS) affects outcomes this...

OBJECTIVE The objective is to introduce story power as an untapped vehicle to inform, equip, and challenge leaders to drive change that can save lives, save money, and build value in communities through adoption of the National Quality Forum Safe Practices. METHOD A review of storytelling best practices from industry complemented findings from a direct survey of hospital safety leaders who pr...

BACKGROUND To achieve the goal of safe care for mothers and infants during labor and birth, Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP; Cincinnati) conducted on-site risk assessments at the 16 hospitals with perinatal units in 2004-2005, with follow-up visits in 2006 through 2008. ON-SITE RISK ASSESSMENTS: In addition to assessing overall organizational risk, the assessments provided each hospital a gap...