By HFT Staff

The pediatric mental health crisis tops ECRI’s 2023 list of most pressing patient safety concerns. While rates of depression and anxiety in children have increased since 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the situation to crisis levels. 

Some issues on the safety concerns list are related to specific clinical practices and device malfunctions, but many are exacerbated by ongoing staffing shortages—including the pediatric mental health crisis, violence against healthcare staff, mismatches between assignments and competencies, poor care coordination, and missed care opportunities. 

ECRI’s experts identify several recommendations to address the crisis including performing universal mental health screenings during every office and hospital visit, making personal connections between pediatric mental health providers and patients/families (i.e., warm handoffs), and providing additional support to address social determinants of health. 

The top 10 patient safety concerns for 2023 are: 

1. The pediatric mental health crisis 
2. Physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff 
3. Clinician needs in times of uncertainty surrounding maternal-fetal medicine 
4. Impact on clinicians expected to work outside their scope of practice and competencies 
5. Delayed identification and treatment of sepsis 
6. Consequences of poor care coordination for patients with complex medical conditions 
7. Risks of not looking beyond the “five rights” to achieve medication safety 
8. Medication errors resulting from inaccurate patient medication lists 
9. Accidental administration of neuromuscular blocking agents 
10. Preventable harm due to omitted care or treatment  

According to the report, the solutions to these challenges are usually complex and require a systems-based approach that considers the impact that strong leadership, patient and family engagement, focus on workforce safety, and a robust learning system can have on safety.