Impact of staffing shortage on patient safety sitters.

Patient safety sitters play a crucial role in observing patients at risk for self-harm or harm to others. This article explores the impact of staffing shortages on patient safety sitters, discussing a review of 163 patient safety events. The findings underscore the need for adequate staffing levels and propose solutions, including alternative measures like tele-sitters and increased family involvement, to mitigate the challenges posed by these shortages and improve overall patient safety and care quality.

Developing and Testing the Health Care Safety Hotline: A Prototype Consumer Reporting System for Patient Safety Events.

This article describes the design, development, and testing of the Health Care Safety Hotline, a prototype consumer reporting system for patient safety events. The prototype was designed and developed with ongoing review by a technical expert panel and feedback obtained during a public comment period. Two health care delivery organizations in one metropolitan area collaborated with the researchers to demonstrate and evaluate the system.

Implementation and evaluation of a prototype consumer reporting system for patient safety events.

Objective: No methodologically robust system exists for capturing consumer-generated patient safety reports. To address this challenge, we developed and pilot-tested a prototype consumer reporting system for patient safety, the Health Care Safety Hotline.

Design: Mixed methods evaluation.