Report highlights the top patient safety threats

Staffing shortages and the effects of COVID-19 on healthcare workers’ mental health are the top patient safety concerns for 2022, according to ECRI. The nonprofit patient safety organization recently released a special report  highlighting the top threats along with recommended actions to mitigate them.  

The report notes that a high proportion of nurses are at or nearing retirement age, with nearly one-fifth of registered nurses being 65 years or older, and nursing schools will unlikely be able to supply enough new nurses to replace them. That along with a shortage of medical and laboratory technicians and predicted shortages of primary care physicians, critical care physicians, hospitalists, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists raises concerns about the availability of staff across the care continuum. The report recommends the implementation of flexible recruitment and retention programs to address these shortages.

Regarding COVID-19's effect on healthcare workers’ mental health, the report notes that 20% of physicians experienced burnout, 7% experienced suicidal ideation, and 6% experienced depression. Nurses also reported experiencing heightened anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and poor-quality sleep during the pandemic. The report recommends providing wellness programming and resources, as well as setting an organizational tone of personal connection with transparent two-way communication channels.  

The other top threats to patient safety after staffing shortages and healthcare worker mental health are:

• Bias and racism in addressing patient safety
• Vaccine coverage gaps and errors
• Cognitive biases and diagnostic error
• Nonventilator healthcare-associated pneumonia
• Human factors in operationalizing telehealth
• International supply chain disruptions
• Products subject to emergency use authorization
• Telemetry monitoring

Source: ECRI