Neuromuscular blocking agents render patients unable to move or breathe and are considered high-alert drugs because misuse can lead to catastrophic injuries or death.

Aspiration screening of patients on admission can help determine whether a more detailed aspiration assessment and fluoroscopic swallow evaluation are indicated and help to identify patients at risk for aspiration.

Analysis of Patient Safety Indicators, which are based on hospital discharge data, reveals one view of the safety of Pennsylvania hospitals.

Staff from a Pennsylvania rehabilitation facility recount the barriers and benefits of an initiative to reduce injuries to patients and staff during patient lifts and transfers.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority provides strategies for long-term care facilities to assess current program strengths and weaknesses, to increase vaccine availability and acceptance, to overcome decisional conflict, and to select new strategies to improve the effectiveness of vaccination programs.

Patient Safety Liaison Richard M. Kundravi, BS, discusses a successful disclosure program at one facility, which involves a specialized team approach.

There is potential for confusion between community wristbands and hospital colored wristbands if the community wristbands are inadvertently interpreted as hospital wristbands, resulting in inadequate or incorrect care being delivered to patients.

In response to an inquiry by a Pennsylvania Patient Safety Officer, Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority analysts reviewed reports involving corneal abrasions.

Analysis of events in the reporting system database continues to show an encouraging decrease in the number of reports of wrong-site surgery.