Gaining perspective into the term 'safety culture'; how emergency nurses view its meaning in their everyday practice: a focus group study in an Australian setting.

BACKGROUND: The creation of the safety culture coordinator role within an Australian Local Health District followed a critical incident in one of its emergency departments. As part of the role, it was important to have an understanding of how nurses viewed the term safety culture in order to support them in implementing any changes that would influence their everyday practice. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative design was chosen for the study. Focus groups allowed the perspectives of nurses to be heard and represented. RESULTS: Five themes emerged from the data: defining safety culture, influences of team culture, differences in environmental impact, the reality of reporting incidents and commitment to best practice and patient care. These highlighted the influencing factors that promoted and inhibited a safety culture. CONCLUSION: This study provides a greater understanding of what supports a positive safety culture and the challenges that nurses face. Across the three emergency departments, nurses had similar beliefs about safety culture, with a consensus that safety was everyone's responsibility. This has enabled the safety culture coordinator position to have greater consideration of what initiatives are valued and important in working with nurses to design strategies that influence their safety culture.

Exploring distraction and the impact of a child life specialist: Perceptions from nurses in a pediatric setting.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions held by nurses on the use of distraction and the role of a child life specialist in caring for children undergoing painful procedures. DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative focus-group design was conducted with 18 nurses from a 24-bed pediatric unit in New South Wales, Australia; this represented 51% of the staff from the unit. Three focus groups were conducted and transcribed verbatim followed by thematic analysis. RESULTS: Findings revealed five main themes that reflected the perceptions of the nurses' use of distraction and the impact of the child life specialist. The theme "Distraction as part of everyday nursing practice" was viewed by nurses as an integral component of nursing practice. The theme "Influence of child life specialist" revealed that the child life specialist created a feeling of ease during procedures. Differences were acknowledged between the two roles, "Contrast of roles" the child life specialist was seen as positive for children and families, whereas nurses viewed themselves as mean and unkind due to the nature of their work. The theme "The value of collaboration for positive healthcare experiences" acknowledged distraction as a contributing factor in ensuring the child and their family had a positive healthcare experience. The types of "nurses perception of the child's experience with distraction" shared in each of the focus groups identified nurses felt their techniques for distraction were much more simplified than the child life specialist; nurses felt disadvantaged at times in not having access to the same tools. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The findings indicate the positive impact that a child life specialist has on a nurse's role while caring for children undergoing painful procedures. Nurses felt they were able to focus on the procedure, therefore ensuring the physician received the right amount of assistance. This reassured the nurses in knowing the child and their families emotional needs were being taken care of. The child life specialist was viewed as being able to provide a positive healthcare experience for the child and families, nurses felt this added to the value of care provided in the pediatric unit. Recommendations include further exploration of the child life specialist role in the pediatric inpatient setting.