Exploring the Influence of Nurse Work Environment and Patient Safety Culture on Attitudes Toward Incident Reporting

Abstract

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the influence of nurse work environments and patient safety culture on attitudes toward incident reporting. BACKGROUND Patient safety culture had been known as a factor of incident reporting by nurses. Positive work environment could be an important influencing factor for the safety behavior of nurses. METHODS A cross-sectional survey design was used. The structured questionnaire was administered to 191 nurses working at a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. RESULTS Nurses’ perception of work environment and patient safety culture were positively correlated with attitudes toward incident reporting. A regression model with clinical career, work area and nurse work environment, and patient safety culture against attitudes toward incident reporting was statistically significant. The model explained approximately 50.7% of attitudes toward incident reporting. CONCLUSION Improving nurses’ attitudes toward incident reporting can be achieved with a broad approach that includes improvements in work environment and patient safety culture.

Senior nurses’ perceptions of junior nurses’ incident reporting: A qualitative study

“…Risk is subjective; however, it is essential that the concerns raised by nurses are not dismissed and that there is an exploration of the existing wide variation in what is considered risky behaviour. Reports in our study influenced transparency of decision‐making, which were related to the belief that patient safety would be improved by reporting incidents (Yoo & Kim, 2017).…”

“…Within nursing, differences exist between safety‐related issues and nursing hierarchy. Yoo and Kim (2017) reported that nurses with less than 3 years’ experience (staff nurses) rated risk on a higher scale compared to nurses with 4–6 years of clinical experience. Murray, Sundin, and Cope (2019) report that newly qualified graduate nurse does not have confidence to manage some patient safety situations.…”

“…Our search identified one study (Wilson, Redman, Talsma, & Aebersold, 2012) that explored safety culture differences between senior and junior nurses using survey methodology. Other researchers have examined attitudes towards incident reporting (Yoo & Kim, 2017) and comparison of incident reporting between doctors and nurses using surveys (Bagenal, Sahnan, & Shantikumar, 2016). At the time of our search, no studies examined senior nurses’ perceptions and/or their understanding of ranking incident reporting system using qualitative methodology.…”

The role of empathy and emotional intelligence in nurses’ communication attitudes using regression models and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis models

“…Despite their importance, there are no studies analysing how EI and empathy can affect attitudes towards communication or comparing the effect of the emotional component (empathy and EI) and attitudes on communication behaviour. Additionally, some studies have used only regression models in nursing context (Chang et al., ; Yoo & Kim, ), ignoring interactions and how different paths could lead to the same result, as could be assessed using qualitative comparative analysis models (QCA) (Blackman, Wistow, & Byrne, ). The linear models (regressions) focused on the individual contribution of each variable, while QCA prioritise the importance of variable combinations (Ragin, ).…”

“…There are studies of nursing focused on analysing communication: communicative errors generate anxiety, misunderstandings, complications, delayed treatments and prolonged hospital stays (Hemsley et al, 2001), destructive conflicts among nurses (Kim, Nicotera, & McNulty, 2015). Adequate communication improves patients' well-being, quality of life, and satisfaction with care (McGilton et al, 2012) and nurses' satisfaction with their work (Chan, Jones, Fung, & Wu, 2012), teamwork and burnout levels (Nadzam, 2009 (Chang et al, 2017;Yoo & Kim, 2017), ignoring interactions and how different paths could lead to the same result, as could be assessed using qualitative comparative analysis models (QCA) (Blackman, Wistow, & Byrne, 2011). The linear models (regressions) focused on the individual contribution of each variable, while QCA prioritise the importance of variable combinations (Ragin, 2008).…”