Safety is a public health issue that affects not only the well-being of our patients, but also the integrity of our entire industry. Over the years, we've made incredible strides in improving safety standards. Yet challenges remain. And, as we broaden our understanding of what constitutes "harm," we begin to realize that emotional damage to patients can be just as impactful as the physical. 

Houston-based MD Anderson Cancer Center's hemovigilance unit was born from a blood transfusion-related event that led to a patient's death in 2019. Kimberly Klein, MD, medical director of the unit, presented operational insights from the program at the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies annual meeting Oct. 19, according to a news release from the association.

About 1% of audio transcriptions written by Open AI's Whisper, a speech recognition tool launched in 2022 and currently used in hospitals, contain hallucinated phrases or sentences when nobody spoke, according to a recent study. 

"Outdated protocols" and a lack of patient education around anaphylaxis treatment can result in poor patient outcomes, Medscape Medical News reported Oct. 28.

Pediatric cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated pneumonia, which can cause "walking pneumonia," have been rising over the last six months, according to the CDC. 

The American Hospital Association and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit have collaborated to create resources to mitigate targeted violence in healthcare settings, including threat assessment and prevention strategies. Healthcare industry workers experience the highest rate of injury from workplace violence and are five times as likely to suffer a workplace violence injury compared to workers overall, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Surgeons at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic recently performed the health system's first paired living-donor liver transplants, marking a significant step in expanding treatment options for patients with liver failure.

Four thoracic societies are collaborating to develop standardized guidelines for clinical practice to improve patient care and safety.

A 12-year-old boy has become the first patient in the U.S. to receive gene therapy for sickle cell disease, The New York Times  reported Oct. 21.

Black patients were 29% less likely to receive multimodal analgesia involving four or more modes following surgical procedures, according to research presented Oct. 20 at the American Society of Anesthesiologists' annual meeting. .

Despite decades of effort, the healthcare industry has failed to achieve meaningful progress in patient safety goals, according to Emergency Care Research Institute President and CEO Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD. 

Patients who undergo several orthopedic surgeries in hospitals face a high risk of malnutrition, which can delay recovery and cause death, according to a study of more than 28 million patients. 

A police officer shot and injured an armed man at Elizabethtown, Ky.-based Baptist Health Hardin hospital on Oct. 19, Fox affiliate WDRB reported.

Hurricane Helene-related IV supply shortages have left parenteral nutrition-dependent patients in limbo, according to an Oct. 18 report from KFF Health News.

The FDA has approved the Minima stent system, the first device specifically designed for infants and young children with congenital heart defects. The innovative stent could help thousands of children avoid multiple open-heart surgeries as they grow up. 

Starting Nov. 1, Texas hospitals will have to ask patients about their citizenship status, The Texas Tribune reported Oct. 17. 

Since elevating safety to its No. 1 priority, Springfield (Ill.) Memorial Hospital has launched several projects to protect its staff and patients. 

The American Hospital Association released its last Hospitals Against Violence Advisory Group guidelines. The guidelines focus on community-based violence interventions.

A team at Cincinnati Children's hospital performed a lung-then-heart transplant on a 15-year-old patient with Castleman disease. The organs were transported and transplanted separately. 

A study found children were 50% more likely to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes six months after having a COVID-19 infection, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 14.