ECRI’s 2023 list suggests patient safety concerns have shifted from focusing on the direct effects of COVID-19 to more longstanding, evergreen issues stemming from the pandemic.
| Rank | 2020 concerns |
|---|---|
| 1 | Missed and delayed diagnoses |
| 2 | Maternal health care |
| 3 | Behavioral health needs |
| 4 | Learning from issues with devices |
| 5 | Device cleaning |
| 6 | Standardizing safety |
| 7 | EHR patient matching |
| 8 | Antimicrobial stewardship |
| 9 | Overriding automated dispensing cabinets |
| 10 | Care setting fragmentation |
| Rank | 2021 concerns |
|---|---|
| 1 | Racial and ethnic disparities |
| 2 | Emergency preparedness in elderly care |
| 3 | Pandemic preparedness |
| 4 | Supply chain interruptions |
| 5 | Drug shortages |
| 6 | Telehealth workflow challenges |
| 7 | Improvised use of medical devices |
| 8 | Methotrexate therapy |
| 9 | Peripheral vascular harm |
| 10 | Aerosol-related infection risk |
| Rank | 2022 concerns |
|---|---|
| 1 | Staffing shortages |
| 2 | COVID-19 effects on clinician mental health |
| 3 | Bias and racism in addressing patient safety |
| 4 | Vaccine coverage gaps and errors |
| 5 | Cognitive biases and diagnostic error |
| 6 | Nonventilator healthcare-associated pneumonia |
| 7 | Human factors in telehealth |
| 8 | Supply chain disruptions |
| 9 | Emergency use authorization products |
| 10 | Telemetry monitoring |
| Rank | 2023 concerns |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pediatric mental health crisis |
| 2 | Violence against healthcare staff |
| 3 | Uncertainty with maternal-fetal medicine |
| 4 | Clinicians working outside scope of practice |
| 5 | Delayed sepsis treatment |
| 6 | Care coordination for complex medical conditions |
| 7 | Not going beyond "five rights" of medication safety |
| 8 | Inaccurate patient medication lists |
| 9 | Accidental use of neuromuscular blocking agents |
| 10 | Preventable harm due to missed care |