Patient Safety Culture in European Hospitals: A Comparative Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Poorly organized health systems with inadequate leadership limit the development of the robust safety cultures capable of preventing consequential adverse events. Although safety culture has been studied in hospitals worldwide, the relationship between clinician perceptions about patient safety and their actual clinical practices has received little attention. Despite the need for mixed methods studies to achieve a deeper understanding of safety culture, there are few studies providing comparisons of hospitals in different countries. PURPOSE: This study compared the safety culture of hospitals from the perspective of nurses in four European countries, including Croatia, Hungary, Spain, and Sweden. DESIGN: A comparative mixed methods study with a convergent parallel design. METHODS: Data collection included a survey, participant interviews, and workplace observations. The sample was nurses working in the internal medicine, surgical, and emergency departments of two public hospitals from each country. Survey data (n = 538) was collected with the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) and qualitative date was collected through 24 in-depth interviews and 147 h of non-participant observation. Survey data was analyzed descriptively and inferentially, and content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. RESULTS: The overall perception of safety culture for most dimensions was 'adequate' in Sweden and 'adequate' to 'poor' in the other countries with inconsistencies identified between survey and qualitative data. Although teamwork within units was the most positive dimension across countries, the qualitative data did not consistently demonstrate support, respect, and teamwork as normative attributes in Croatia and Hungary. Staffing and workload were identified as major areas for improvement across countries, although the nurse-to-patient ratios were the highest in Sweden, followed by Spain, Hungary, and Croatia. CONCLUSIONS: Despite all countries being part of the European Union, most safety culture dimensions require improvement, with few measured as good, and most deemed to be adequate to poor. Dimension level perceptions were at times incongruent across countries, as observed patient safety practices or interview perspectives were inconsistent with a positive safety culture. Differences between countries may be related to national culture or variability in health system structures permitted by the prevailing European Union health policy.

Sexuality in people living with a serious mental illness: A meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence.

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT: A serious mental illness influences sexual life and people affected have worries about their sexual health. People living with a serious mental illness can and want to participate in interventions related to sexual health. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE: People who suffer a serious mental illness are interested in maintaining an active sex life. People who suffer a serious mental illness experience rejection when they open up and they lose intimate relationships or possibilities of meeting other people because of ignorance and prejudices surrounding mental health. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Mental health services must respond to this need, that is including sexual needs assessment among routine standard practices or training nurses on sexual education to allow them to advise patients and their families and friends. Health systems should promote awareness programmes and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and sexuality. ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Sexuality-related nursing care is scarce and mainly focuses on biological issues. There is also a lack of knowledge about how serious mental illnesses affect sexuality. AIM: To explain how people with a serious mental illness perceive and experience their sexuality. METHOD: A meta-synthesis was conducted to integrate qualitative studies. Four databases were used to perform the search, focused in the last ten years. Nine articles were included, and their results analysed thematically. RESULTS: Four categories were identified: "Pathologized sexuality," which explains how the disorder and treatment affect sexuality; "Not my sexuality anymore," which describes feelings emerging from the perceived limitations and the role of self-acceptance; "Learning to manage intimate relationships," which explains the desire to establish intimate personal relationships and define their meaning; and "Reconstructing my sexuality," which elucidates the influence of the environment on sexuality. DISCUSSION: Sexuality is influenced by several factors, the main ones being: the clinical complications, the side effects of drug treatment, the social support, the relationship with the health sector and stigma. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Having a serious mental illness affects sexuality and can provoke suffering and social isolation. Mental health services should address this issue and carry out community interventions to reduce stigma.