Quality of Healthcare and Patient Safety Across Disciplines: Innovations, Evidence, and Practice

Dear Colleagues,

Quality of care and patient safety are key pillars of an effective and sustainable health system. Health professionals', especially nurses’, contribution to promoting safety, reducing errors, maintaining high standards of care, and improving patient outcomes has emerged as critical. The increasing complexity of the services provided, the challenges of the modern clinical environment, and the need for continuous improvement of care processes make it imperative to investigate and document good practices that enhance quality and safety.

This Special Issue aims to bring together original research studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that focus on:

• Factors affecting the quality of nursing care,
• Interventions to improve patient safety.
• Contribution of education, leadership, and organizational culture to the promotion of high-quality care.

Studies of particular interest include those that examine the implementation of evidence-based interventions;  strategies to reduce errors and complications; health policies aimed at ensuring quality care; and educational and professional empowerment programs for health professionals. Interested researchers and clinicians are invited to submit papers that focus on the development, implementation, or evaluation of practices that improve patient safety and enhance the role of healthcare professionals in modern clinical reality.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue titled "Quality of Healthcare and Patient Safety Across Disciplines: Innovations, Evidence, and Practice." This issue seeks high-quality submissions that address the interconnections between care quality and patient safety in diverse healthcare contexts. We welcome original research articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that explore clinical innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, leadership practices, policy implementation, and other factors that influence the delivery of safe and effective care. Contributions from nursing, medicine, public health, and allied health disciplines are strongly encouraged.

This Special Issue aims to critically examine the interplay between quality of care and patient safety within contemporary healthcare systems. Adopting a multidisciplinary lens, it seeks to bring together empirical research, systematic reviews, and theoretical analyses that illuminate how clinical practices, organizational structures, and interprofessional collaboration influence both care quality and patient outcomes. The issue aspires to advance scholarly discourse and inform evidence-based strategies for improving safety and effectiveness in health service delivery.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Factors that influence the quality of care (e.g., professional competence, workload, staff satisfaction)
• Leadership and promoting safety culture in health systems (role of clinical and administrative leadership)
• Educational initiatives to strengthen safety culture (training programs, enhanced safety skills development in health professionals)
• Prevention of healthcare-associated infections (e.g., CLABSI, CAUTI, SSI, prevention standards, and implementation of protocols)
• Falls prevention in clinical and long-term care settings (prevention interventions, risk assessment tools, safety policies)
• Evidence-based interventions for improving clinical practice (implementation of evidence-based practices, quality improvement)
• Digital technologies, innovation, and improving patient safety (e-health, tele-health, monitoring systems)

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Evangelos Fradelos
Dr. Aikaterini Toska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• quality of care
• patient safety
• ethics in healthcare
• interdisciplinary collaboration
• evidence-based practice
• clinical governance
• healthcare quality improvement
• nursing practice
• patient values
• health systems safety