Contents

#### **Preface XI**



#### Chapter 8 **Comprehensive and Live Air Purification as a Key Environmental, Clinical, and Patient Safety Factor: A Prospective Evaluation 137** Stanislaw P. Stawicki, Chad Brisendine, Lee Levicoff, Frank Ford,

Beverly Snyder, Sherrine Eid and Kathryn C. Worrilow

Preface

This book represents the fourth—and the last—volume of *Vignettes in Patient Safety*. Since 2017, the year of the initial publication of Volume 1, we noted significant and sustained inter‐ est in the content published in the subsequent second and third volumes. In total, the first three volumes were downloaded more than 12,000 times, with more than 50 attributable scholarly citations. This tremendous success—and validation of our efforts to promote patient

The interest in patient safety continues to grow across the world, as evidenced by the emer‐ gence of various advocacy movements and the sustained focus on improving treatment out‐ comes while eliminating any and all potentially preventable complications. Once again, we are very proud to play a small part in raising awareness of this critically important—and rapidly developing—area of clinical expertise. As we emphasize all of the "positives" we must remain

When assessing the first three volumes of the *Vignettes* for any potential content gaps, we iden‐ tified a number of topics that often become overlooked when it comes to general patient safety discourse. For example, the current volume contains chapters focusing on radiation monitor‐ ing and safety; primary care considerations; alarm fatigue; complications of peripheral intra‐ venous catheters; as well as the importance of air purification systems to improving patient outcomes (and safety) through reducing the risk of healthcare associated infections. With the goal of "zero incidence" for many of the so-called "never events" there continues to be more room for improvement. As the reader will find throughout this final volume of *Vignettes in Patient Safety*, the need to develop, encourage, and support safer healthcare systems is at the

Similar to the first three volumes, we utilized a case-based approach, focusing on practical as‐ pects of identification and remediation of medical errors, including their root causes and pre‐ ventive strategies. We found that by providing our readers with realistic, case-based scenarios, we empower the audience to better incorporate the educational content in their daily patient care activities. Through the use of hypothetical scenarios that are based on typical "patterns of errors," each chapter highlights its own set of unique circumstances leading to "patient harm" events. At the same time, we are able to more effectively focus the reader's attention on oppor‐ tunities for improvement in bedside care delivery, clinical team interactions, regulatory con‐ siderations, and pertinent system-based processes. We hope that our audience, once equipped with this important knowledge, will be better positioned to continually reduce the ever-

Another important component of the case-based approach to patient safety is the realization that as healthcare providers we do not—and should not—function in silos. Rather, we operate in an increasingly complex regulatory and clinical environment, characterized by a rapidly evolv‐ ing set of expectations and competing priorities. Thus, the impact of the smallest of "adverse occurrences" within such an intricate system—despite being seemingly "insignificant" at first—

safety—compelled us to embark on the current installment.

core of building better hospitals and clinics of tomorrow.

present risk of medical error in their clinical practices.

humble and focused because much more work remains ahead of us.
