Patient Safety Indicators, which were developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) use administrative data to identify patient safety concerns such as iatrogenic pneumothorax and postoperative sepsis. The purpose of PSIs is to identify the incidence of underreported safety concerns; however, a new study questions this accuracy of this identification. Examining over 93,000 charts, researchers found poor positive predictive value in catheter related bloodstream infections, postoperative respiratory failure and pressure ulcers. Contributing factors include coding errors and documentation errors. The authors suggest better training for coders and clinicians to improve documentation.

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