Patient Safety Commons^™

Knowledge And Attitudes Toward Over-The-Counter Medications Among Undergraduate Students At The University Of Mississippi, Anna S. Dawson

Honors Theses

This study examines and compares knowledge and attitudes towards over-the-counter (OTC) medications among undergraduate college students at the University of Mississippi. OTCs are purchased and administered without a prescription, making them an efficient, safe, and affordable method of healthcare. It is important to determine the attitudes college students have towards these drugs and if they are able to safely and correctly use them. Information gathered from this study can be used to guide future education on medication literacy and to gain insight into how college students use OTCs to medicate themselves. A Qualtrics survey was sent out to a random …

An Assessment Of Accessibility And Affordability Of Inpatient Psychiatric Care In Tennessee, Kailee Havrda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Access to mental health has seen changes over the past decade, but little research and attention have been given to access to inpatient psychiatric facilities. Inpatient psychiatric care is crucial for patients experiencing mental health emergencies who need immediate access to care. Gaps in spatial accessibility, affordability, and the access and assessment process were identified due to a lack of available information in the field.

Methods: Secondary data from the Tennessee Department of Health were used to assess financial accessibility through payer source charges and patient encounters, as well as through mapping of inpatient psychiatric facilities and conducting drive …

Trust As Public Health Infrastructure: Advancing Health Care Safety Through Risk Communication And Community Engagement, Karanvir Bhinder, Sahibpreet Bhinder

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

Preparedness frameworks traditionally emphasize surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical care and logistics. However, recent public health emergencies have demonstrated that even technically sound interventions may fail when trust is weak, communication is fragmented or misinformation undermines public confidence. Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) is therefore increasingly recognized as an important component of effective outbreak response.

Perspective

Evidence from COVID-19, Ebola and other public health emergencies demonstrates that trust, communication and community engagement influence adherence to public health guidance, vaccine acceptance, healthcare utilization and the implementation of evidence-based interventions. Despite this, RCCE is frequently operationalized as a support function rather …

Advanced Practice Provider-Physician Collaboration And Medical Staff Governance: A Framework For Patient Safety, Nicolas Testa, Kaysha Hervey, Cynthia Borum

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The growth of advanced practice providers (APPs) is occurring in parallel with persistent and projected physician shortages. One important solution and increasingly visible response to these workforce challenges is the expanding role of APPs. Strong physician-APP partnerships can help distribute workload, improve access, and support sustainable practice with the delivery of safe, quality patient care. The future of clinical care will depend on effective APP-physician collaboration grounded in sound credentialing, clearly defined supervision and practice expectations, and robust medical staff monitoring programs. We describe the governance and oversight processes in a large health care system to assess and support APP …

Bathrooms As A Patient Safety Blind Spot In Emergency Departments: A Narrative Review And Nursing Practice Framework, Carmelo Villani

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

Emergency department (ED) bathrooms preserve privacy and dignity but interrupt direct observation. Risks described across clinical publications and professional guidance include falls, unrecognized deterioration, overdose, hazardous ingestion, infection, inaccessible environments, and unmet elimination needs. This review integrated those risks and translated them into a nursing practice framework.

Methods

For the structured narrative review, PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, and Scopus were searched on July 30, 2026, without date, language, age, or publication-type filters. Backward and forward citation chasing and a targeted search for professional documents supplemented database searching. Publications were categorized by ED relevance and synthesized thematically. Professional guidance was analyzed …

Pharmacovigilance As An Act Of Awareness And Mindfulness, Mahima Silas, Hale Z. Toklu

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The term “pharmacovigilance” defines the activities related to the collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention of adverse reactions due to pharmaceuticals. While it is often framed as a technical and regulatory discipline, it can also be understood through a more reflective lens as a form of mindfulness practice. At its core, pharmacovigilance requires a way of thinking that closely mirrors mindfulness, including sustained attention, openness to uncertainty, and deep awareness of human experience. Viewing pharmacovigilance in this way reframes it not just as a safety mechanism, but as a thoughtful, patient-centered approach to medicine.

The Whole Patient: What Fascia Reveals About Pain, Adaptation, And The Case For Treating Together, Kelly Davis Pt, Dpt, Faaompt, Mt

New Orleans Dental Association News

The final piece in this series looks at fascia and the autonomic nervous system — the connective tissue and nerve pathways linking the jaw, neck, and airway into one continuous system — and why both matter to dentistry. Dr. Davis draws on current fascia and pain science research, including work from the 2025 International Fascia Research Congress in New Orleans, to explain how a misaligned bite can travel through this tissue and surface as headaches, how tongue posture and breathwork affect jaw stability, and why complex, chronic cases so often need more than one discipline to make headway. Told partly …

Bridging Awareness And Action: A Multilevel Model Of Organizational Learning, Safety Climate, And Sickle Cell Trait Safety Compliance, Kimberly Snowden

Annual DBA Scholars Conference

Despite the existence of NCAA and National Athletic Trainers’ Association guidelines, preventable sickle cell trait (SCT)-related adverse events continue to occur in athletic settings. This study examines how organizational learning capacity, safety climate, leadership commitment, and individual risk perception influence compliance with SCT safety protocols and related safety outcomes. Drawing on Organizational Learning Theory, Safety Climate Theory, and the Health Belief Model, the study proposes a multilevel framework tested through an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Findings are expected to identify organizational predictors of compliance and provide practical recommendations to strengthen SCT safety implementation and reduce preventable athlete harm.

The Anxious Patient: How Breathing, Presence, And Calming Cues Transform What Happens In The Dental Chair, Kelly Davis Pt, Dpt, Faaompt, Mt

New Orleans Dental Association News

In part two of her three-part series for NODA News, Dr. Kelly Davis, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, MTC, explains why a dentist's own regulation is one of the most powerful tools in the operatory. Dental anxiety triggers a genuine sympathetic nervous system response — elevated heart rate, muscle guarding in the jaw and neck, and a body primed for threat — that makes procedures harder for patient and clinician. Dr. Davis introduces co-regulation, the neuroscience-backed principle that a calm, grounded provider can help settle an anxious patient's nervous system through presence alone. She offers concrete, simple techniques dentists can use before, …

State-Level Implementation Of Health And Safety Policies In Mississippi Secondary Schools, Heather L. Shirley, Valerie J. Moody

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Background: State-level investigations of health and safety policy implementation in secondary school athletics highlight ongoing challenges in ensuring student-athlete safety that aligns with evidence-based best practices. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine current state-level implementation of health and safety policies in Mississippi secondary schools from the perspective of athletics/activities directors, athletic trainers, and other school administrators. Methods: In May 2025, a 26-item web-based questionnaire was distributed to 226 athletic directors and 114 athletic trainers across Mississippi secondary schools. The survey assessed participant demographics, access to healthcare resources, emergency action planning (EAP), required coaches’ health and safety training, …

Breaking The Cycle: From Victimization To Offending Through The Lens Of Human Services, Colette R. Penalosa

Master of Arts in Human Services

The victim-offender overlap challenges the common view that victims and offenders are separately labeled by recognizing that both groups have experienced significant childhood trauma, physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Current research implies these experiences can increase the risk of offending as they all influence cognitive and behavioral development while leaving criminal behavior undetermined. The purpose of this capstone is to analyze the relationship between childhood victimization and offending from a human service perspective; analyzing the pathways a victim takes on the road to offending. Research conducted will focus on exploring the victim-offender overlap, …

“Now Serving… Not Quite Yet”: Improving Waiting Room Experience Through Consistent Communication In The Emergency Department, Juan Carlos Serrato

Master's Projects and Capstones

Context: The quality improvement project was implemented in the front-end microsystem of a 36-bed emergency department (ED) in a non-profit, Magnet-designated California hospital. Problem: Communication with non-roomed patients at Hospital X was inconsistent, contributing to dissatisfaction. In June 2026, Press Ganey reported that 61.4% of patients felt they were informed about delays. Baseline observation identified gaps in staff explanations of estimated wait times, next steps in care, and opportunities to ask questions. Intervention: A 30-day pilot provided staff education on the AIDET communication framework through formal in-service education and daily huddles. Patient-facing materials explained the ED process …

Bridging Fiscal Sustainability And Health Equity: A Policy Analysis Of California’S Healthcare Coverage Safeguards, Guadalupe Castaneda Martinez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Without structural policy intervention, approximately 4.6 million Californians remain at risk of being uninsured by 2030, worsening racial and ethnic health disparities and hospital uncompensated care burdens. This policy analysis advocates for a hybrid universal coverage model combining sliding-scale subsidies (California Senate Bill 78) with full-scope Medi-Cal expansion for all income-eligible residents regardless of legal status (California Assembly Bill 133). The framework relies on existing funding mechanisms, including the Managed Care Organization tax and the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund. Comparative analysis indicates that market-only subsidies leave severe equity gaps, whereas immediate single-payer transitions pose substantial fiscal and administrative risks. …

Medical Tourism Patient Guidance: A Content Analysis Of Risk Reduction Guidelines Available To Global Health Seekers., Alicia Mason, Angela Ashmore

Faculty Submissions

This study examines medical tourism (MT) patient guidance messages intended to reduce procedural risks—those directly related to biomedical treatments—and process risks, which involve logistical, administrative, and interpersonal challenges of seeking healthcare abroad. The analysis focuses on print and digital publications authored by individuals independent of the MT industry, including policy researchers, travel health experts, lifestyle reporters, and consumer-focused medical travel writers. Using a two-phase digital and database search strategy, 27 publications from 2009 to 2024 were identified and analyzed using exploratory content analysis methods. Findings reveal important differences in the scope and depth of guidance aimed at reducing risks for …

Same-Day Cancellation Reduction In An Ambulatory Surgery Unit, Anthone Dalit Vengersammy

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Same-day surgical cancellations in the outpatient surgery setting remain a significant operational and patient care challenge. Preventable cancellations negatively affect patient experience, operating room efficiency, staff productivity, and healthcare costs. 

Context: A microsystem and organizational culture assessment identified several factors contributing to same-day cancellations, including unclear preoperative instructions, incomplete medical clearance, inconsistent patient education, lack of standardized workflows, unclear staff responsibilities, and communication gaps among interdisciplinary teams. SWOT and gap analyses were used to identify opportunities for improvement and guide intervention planning.

Interventions: Quality improvement interventions were implemented through iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. Strategies included revising preoperative patient instructions, …

Clinical Corner: Pearls From Local Dentists

West Michigan District Dental Society Bulletin

"Clinical Corner: Pearls from Local Dentists" is a section of the WMDDS Bulletin where local dentists share clinical wisdom for fellow practitioners. This edition's topics include Behavior Guidance in Pediatric Dentistry, occupational pain, and occupational hearing loss

Implementation Of A Language-Concordant Follow-Up Protocol To Reduce Percutaneous Nephrostomy Tube Complications: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Marisol Ornelas

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Purposes/Aims: Complications of percutaneous nephrostomy tubes (PCN) are common after discharge. Language barriers place patients at higher risk for misunderstanding discharge instructions. This evidence-based project evaluated whether a bilingual follow-up protocol three days post-discharge reduces PCN complications in patients.

Methodology: This project utilized the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model. The project leader reviewed the literature, synthesized the evidence, and developed a standardized PCN discharge training and bilingual PCN follow-up protocol.

Implementation: Unit nurses received training to standardize the PCN discharge process. Nurses educated PCN patients using the standardized process at the time of discharge. Three days …

Comparison Of Selected Supply Chain Management Practices Of Three Major Regional/Metropolitan Hospitals, Alan D. Smith

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Impact Of A Standardized Intimate Partner Violence Screening Tool In A Clinical Setting, Dylan Bogucki

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as any act of violence, including physical, sexual, stalking, or psychological aggression by an intimate partner, former or current. Despite being preventable, IPV remains a leading nonobstetric cause of morbidity and mortality among women, which highlights the need for systematic screening in clinical settings. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to identify women who have previously experienced or are currently experiencing IPV and to connect them with appropriate resources. Twenty-one studies were identified, all demonstrating moderate to high methodological quality and supporting the need for routine IPV screening in women’s health settings. …

Falling Star Program: A Visual Cue Intervention To Reduce Falls In Long-Term Care, Maggie Shanahan

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Falls among older adults in skilled nursing and long-term care settings remain a leading cause of injury, functional decline, and increased healthcare utilization, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality in this population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2023; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2022). The primary purpose of this project aimed to implement and evaluate a structured visual cue–based fall prevention intervention to reduce fall rates among high-risk residents in a long-term care facility in Northwest Indiana. The project included 23 participants aged 65 years and older who were identified as high risk for falls. Using …