Information Needs and the Use of Documentation to Support Collaborative Decision-Making: Implications for the Reduction of Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections.

It is clear that interdisciplinary communication and collaboration have the potential to mitigate healthcare-associated harm, yet there is limited research on how communication through documentation in the patient record can support collaborative decision making. Understanding what information is needed to support collaborative decision making is necessary to design electronic health information systems that facilitate effective communication and, ultimately, safe care. To explore this issue, we focused on information needs related to central venous catheter management and the prevention of central line-associated blood stream infections.

Development and Validation of WeCares, a Survey Instrument to Assess Hospitalized Patients' and Family Members' "Willingness to Engage in Your Care and Safety".

Background: Patient engagement is recognized as a method to improve care quality and safety. A research team developed WeCares (Willingness to Engage in Your Care and Safety), a survey instrument assessing patients' and families' engagement in the safety of their care during their hospital stay. The objective of this study is to establish the preliminary construct validity and internal consistency of WeCares.

Quantifying and Visualizing Nursing Flowsheet Documentation Burden in Acute and Critical Care.

Documentation burden is a well-documented problem within healthcare, and improvement requires understanding of the scope and depth of the problem across domains. In this study we quantified documentation burden within EHR flowsheets, which are primarily used by nurses to document assessments and interventions. We found mean rates of 633-689 manual flowsheet data entries per 12-hour shift in the ICU and 631-875 manual flowsheet data entries per 12-hour shift in acute care, excluding device data.

Towards Analytics of the Patient and Family Perspective: A Case Study and Recommendations for Data Capture of Safety and Quality Concerns.

Safety reporting systems are improving our current understanding of safety in hospital settings, although mostly from the clinician perspective. Patient Family Relations (PFR) programs provide the opportunity to capture patient/family concerns in the hospital. Descriptive statistics were completed of PFR concern submissions over a 20 month period, as well as a comparison of structured data fields to those of the AHRQ Common Format.

Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Real-Time Safety Reporting by Hospitalized Patients and Their Care Partners: The MySafeCare Application.

Objective: The aims of the study were to evaluate the amount and content of data patients and care partners reported using a real-time electronic safety tool compared with other reporting mechanisms and to understand their perspectives on safety concerns and reporting in the hospital.

Methods: This study used mixed methods including 20-month preimplementation and postimplementation trial evaluating MySafeCare, a web-based application, which allows hospitalized patients/care partners to report safety concerns in real time. The study compared MySafeCare submission rates for three hospital units (oncology acute care, vascular intermediate care, medical intensive care) with submissions rates of Patient Family Relations (PFR) Department, a hospital service to address patient/family concerns.

Applying User-Centered Design Methods to the Development of an mHealth Application for Use in the Hospital Setting by Patients and Care Partners.

Introduction: Developing an optimized and user-friendly mHealth application for patients and family members in the hospital environment presents unique challenges given the diverse patient population and patients' various states of well-being.

Objective: This article describes user-centered design methods and results for developing the patient and family facing user interface and functionality of MySafeCare, a safety reporting tool for hospitalized patients and their family members.

Methods: Individual and group usability sessions were conducted with specific testing scenarios for participants to follow to test the usability and functionality of the tool.

Implementation, evaluation, and recommendations for extension of AHRQ Common Formats to capture patient- and carepartner-generated safety data.

Objectives: The Common Formats, published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, represent a standard for safety event reporting used by Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs). We evaluated its ability to capture patient-reported safety events.

Materials And Methods: We formally evaluated gaps between the Common Formats and a safety concern reporting system for use by patients and their carepartners (ie friends/families) at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

An informatics research agenda to support patient and family empowerment and engagement in care and recovery during and after hospitalization.

As part of an interdisciplinary acute care patient portal task force with members from 10 academic medical centers and professional organizations, we held a national workshop with 71 attendees representing over 30 health systems, professional organizations, and technology companies. Our consensus approach identified 7 key sociotechnical and evaluation research focus areas related to the consumption and capture of information from patients, care partners (eg, family, friends), and clinicians through portals in the acute and post-acute care settings. The 7 research areas were: (1) standards, (2) privacy and security, (3) user-centered design, (4) implementation, (5) data and content, (6) clinical decision support, and (7) measurement.

Nurse, Patient, and Care Partner Perceptions of a Personalized Safety Plan Screensaver.

A patient safety plan dashboard was developed that captures disparate data from the electronic health record that is then displayed as a personalized bedside screensaver. The dashboard aligns all care team members, including patients and families, in the safety plan. The screensaver content includes icons that pertain to common geriatric syndromes.