Differing Effects of Implementation Leadership Characteristics on Nurses' Use of mHealth Technologies in Clinical Practice: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Leadership has been consistently identified as an important factor in shaping the uptake and use of mobile health (mHealth) technologies in nursing; however, the nature and scope of leadership remain poorly delineated. This lack of detail about what leadership entails limits the practical actions that can be taken by leaders to optimize the implementation and use of mHealth technologies among nurses working clinically. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effects of first-level leaders' implementation leadership characteristics on nurses' intention to use and actual use of mHealth technologies in practice while controlling for nurses' individual characteristics and the voluntariness of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use of mHealth technologies. METHODS: A cross-sectional exploratory correlational survey study of registered nurses in Canada (n=288) was conducted between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2018. Nurses were eligible to participate if they provided direct care in any setting and used employer-provided mHealth technologies in clinical practice. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for the 2 outcome variables: intention to use and actual use. RESULTS: The implementation leadership characteristics of first-level leaders influenced nurses' intention to use and actual use of mHealth technologies, with 2 moderating effects found. The final model for intention to use included the interaction term for implementation leadership characteristics and education, explaining 47% of the variance in nurses' intention to use mHealth in clinical practice (F10,228=20.14; P<.001). An examination of interaction plots found that implementation leadership characteristics had a greater influence on the intention to use mHealth technologies among nurses with a registered nurse diploma or a bachelor of nursing degree than among nurses with a graduate degree or other advanced education. For actual use, implementation leadership characteristics had a significant influence on the actual use of mHealth over and above the control variables (nurses' demographic characteristics, previous experience with mHealth, and voluntariness) and other known predictors (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) in the model without the implementation leadership × age interaction term (ß=.22; P=.001) and in the final model that included the implementation leadership × age interaction term (ß=-.53; P=.03). The final model explained 40% of the variance in nurses' actual use of mHealth in their work (F10,228=15.18; P<.001). An examination of interaction plots found that, for older nurses, implementation leadership characteristics had less of an influence on their actual use of mHealth technologies. CONCLUSIONS: Leaders responsible for the implementation of mHealth technologies need to assess and consider their implementation leadership behaviors because these play a role in influencing nurses' use of mHealth technologies. The education level and age of nurses may be important factors to consider because different groups may require different approaches to optimize their use of mHealth technologies in clinical practice.

Follow-up visits after a concussion in the pediatric population: An integrative review.

BACKGROUND: Concussions are a significant health issue for children and youth. After a concussion diagnosis, follow-up visits with a health care provider are important for reassessment, continued management, and further education. OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to synthesize and analyse the current state of the literature on follow-up visits of children with a concussive injury and examine the factors associated with follow-up visits. METHODS: An integrative review was conducted based on Whittemore and Knafl's framework. Databases searched included PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. RESULTS: Twenty-four articles were reviewed. We identified follow-up visit rates, timing to a first follow-up visit, and factors associated with follow-up visits as common themes. Follow-up visit rates ranged widely, from 13.2 to 99.5%, but time to the first follow-up visit was only reported in eight studies. Three types of factors were associated with attending a follow-up visit: injury-related factors, individual factors, and health service factors. CONCLUSION: Concussed children and youth have varying rates of follow-up care after an initial concussion diagnosis, with little known about the timing of this visit. Diverse factors are associated with the first follow-up visit. Further research on follow-up visits after a concussion in this population is warranted.

Room of horrors simulation in healthcare education: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: A room of horrors simulation is one tool that healthcare educators use to improve learners' awareness of patient safety hazards and other critical matters in a safe and controlled environment. This review aimed to summarize research on use of room of horrors simulation in healthcare education, examine its effectiveness, and recommend directions for future education and research. DESIGN: A systematic review of the literature. DATA SOURCES: Relevant publications in English were identified in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and dissertation databases, and through a manual search of the reference lists of included articles. REVIEW METHODS: The systematic review and its reporting process conformed to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Included articles were evaluated for quality using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Two authors independently extracted data from each article, and two additional authors confirmed the accuracy of the extracted data. The "horrors" used in the studies' simulations were mapped into 13 different incident types. RESULTS: Sixteen studies were included in the final review. All of them were conducted in Western countries. Simulation scenarios were developed based on existing resources, expert guidance, or patient safety concerns frequently reported at a particular institution. The number of horrors per scenario ranged from nine to 68, with the most common being medication-related and clinical procedure-related incidents. Participants completed a room of horrors simulation as individuals, a team, or both. When competing as a team, the team sizes ranged from two to 11. Studies reported high participant satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Room of horrors simulation is a useful teaching tool for healthcare students and professionals. However, there is little conclusive evidence about the ideal composition and size of teams, and therefore this merits more research attention, as does attention to the longer term impacts on learners.

Testing the association between the enabling and enacting factors of patient safety culture and patient safety: structural equation modelling.

BACKGROUND: Despite evidence linking a safety culture with patient safety, the processes by which aspect of safety culture influences patient safety are not yet well understood. Thus, this study aimed to test a theoretical model of the relationships between three enabling factors (supervisor/clinical leader support for patient safety, hospital management support for patient safety, and psychological safety), and four enacting factors of patient safety culture (handoffs and information exchange, teamwork, error reporting intention, and withholding voice) with nurse assessments of patient safety. METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study design was used. Between May and June 2020, 526 nurses who provided direct care to patients in medical surgical units in three Korean hospitals completed an online survey that included four standardized scales or subscales. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesized model. RESULTS: Among the three enabling factors, psychological safety was associated with all four enacting factors, and all enacting factors were associated with overall patient safety. Hospital management support was associated with all enacting factors except teamwork, but supervisor/clinical leader support was associated with only handoffs and information exchange, and withholding voice. Thus, teamwork was influenced only by psychological safety. Findings demonstrate overall support for the theoretical model of safety culture wherein enabling factors influence enacting factors which, in turn, lead to patient safety outcomes, but emphasize the critical nature of psychological safety among nursing staff. CONCLUSION: This study provides further insight into the importance of support from hospital management and unit supervisors/clinical leaders for patient safety to motivate and enable hospital nurses to enact behaviours necessary for patient safety. However, such support must also take the form of enhancing psychological safety for nursing staff.

Patient Safety Culture and Speaking Up Among Health Care Workers.

PURPOSE: Although previous research showed the importance of safety culture on health care workers' speaking up behaviors, it is not clear how particular safety culture domains are associated with the speaking up behaviors of hospital staff. Also, researchers have suggested that health care workers' speaking up behaviors vary by profession, but there has been limited research into such differences. Thus, this study examined differences in perceptions of patient safety culture and the promotive and prohibitive speaking up behaviors of health care workers by profession and investigated the relationships between patient safety culture and the two types of speaking up behaviors. METHODS: A descriptive correlational study was conducted using secondary data collected through an online survey of health care workers at a private, nonprofit, tertiary-level teaching hospital in South Korea. The sample (N = 831) consisted of nurses (54.0%), physicians (13.0%), and other licensed and unlicensed hospital personnel (33.0%). Analyses of variance were conducted to examine differences in study variables by profession. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of the seven patient safety culture factors on promotive and prohibitive voice after controlling for tenure and profession. RESULTS: Perceptions of safety culture and promotive voice behaviors were higher for physicians compared with nurses. Communication openness, reporting patient adverse events, and unit supervisors' and hospital managements' support for patient safety were significant predictors of both types of voice behaviors. CONCLUSION: Hospital administrators and unit managers should create a supportive environment where staff feel free to voice their concerns and suggestions. They should also pay attention to the varying perspectives held by different groups of hospital workers and their different voice behaviors. Knowing which dimensions of patient safety culture are most strongly related to health care workers' voice behaviors can guide patient safety improvement activities in health care organizations.

Motivators and inhibitors of nurses' speaking up behaviours: A descriptive qualitative study.

AIMS: To identify factors that motivate or inhibit nurses' speaking up for patient safety. DESIGN: A descriptive qualitative study. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 nurses from four Korean hospitals between December 2020 and January 2021. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: We identified safety culture, supportive unit managers and role models, positive reactions from or familiarity with others, high-risk situations and personal characteristics and beliefs as motivators of nurses' speaking up. Hierarchies and power differentials, seniority and unit tenure, concerns about relationships, and heavy workloads inhibited nurses' speaking up. CONCLUSION: Individual, organizational and cultural characteristics influence nurses' decisions on whether or not to voice their concerns, suggestions or ideas. Certain characteristics of Korean culture, such as strong hierarchies and the valuing of good relationships, play an important role in nurses' speaking up behaviours. Our findings can be used to inform educational interventions and management expectations about interpersonal behaviours, especially in a culture where age- and seniority-based hierarchies and collectivism are prevalent. IMPACT: Nurses perceived speaking up as a challenging behaviour, and they sometimes withhold their voices even when speaking up is needed for patient safety. We found that individual, organizational, and contextual factors affect the speaking up behaviours of nurses. Nurse managers can create environments that are more supportive of nurses' speaking up behaviours by using inclusive leadership to create psychological safety, by inviting and showing appreciation for staff input, and by helping physicians and senior nurses understand the importance of all nurses' voices. NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Patient or public contribution does not apply to this study as its purpose was to explore the speaking up experiences of nurses themselves.

Nurses' Use of mHealth Functions.

Nurses' use of mHealth remains largely unexplored despite enthusiasm for its use in health systems. We conducted a survey (n=341) to examine nurses' use of mHealth technologies in Canada; this paper presents findings of sub questions within a larger study. Differences in common mHealth functions used by nurses were examined by population setting (large urban centre, medium centre, small centre, and rural area) and type of organization (hospital, community health, nursing home or long-term care, and other). A significant difference by population setting was found in the use of the mHealth functions to support decision making. Significant differences by type of organization were found in the use of the mHealth functions for care plans, outside communication, general/basic documentation, accessing information resources, and 'other' functions. Results from this study are the first to provide details of the current state and nature of nurses' use of mHealth.

Using Dominance Analysis to Identify the Most Important Dimensions of Safety Culture for Predicting Patient Safety.

Studies have demonstrated associations between safety culture and patient safety based on the perceptions of healthcare professionals, but limited attention has been given to the perceptions of nurses. Moreover, most studies have used regression modeling, an approach that limits researchers' ability to identify the most important predictors of patient safety due to intercorrelations among predictors in the model. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of seven dimensions of safety culture on nurse-rated patient safety and identify the relative importance of these dimensions for predicting patient safety. This correlational study used data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's 2018 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Data from 13,031 nurses working in surgical areas of 443 hospitals in the United States were examined using logistic regression and dominance analysis. Staffing adequacy was the strongest predictor of patient safety, followed by hospital management support for patient safety and organizational learning/continuous improvement. However, dominance analysis showed that hospital management support for patient safety was the most important predictor rather than staffing adequacy. Nurse managers and hospital administrators should role model a culture of safety and demonstrate their valuing of patient safety by providing sufficient resources, listening to and valuing staff suggestions regarding patient safety, and providing feedback about organizational changes to improve patient safety.

Factors related to mammography adherence among women in Brazil: A scoping review.

AIM: To explore and synthesize the literature on factors related to mammography screening adherence among women in Brazil. DESIGN: A scoping review. METHODS: We searched 11 databases for studies published between 2006-January 2020. All identified articles were screened, and data were extracted from eligible studies. We used the UK Government Social Research Service weight of evidence appraisal tool to appraise the quality of the included study. RESULTS: From a total of 1,384 identified articles, 22 were retained. All included studies used quantitative, non-experimental methods and all but two studies used cross-sectional data. Quality of evidence varied across studies. We identified 41 factors that were investigated across the set of studies. Demographic and socio-economic factors were the most commonly investigated, with older age, urban residence, living in the southeast of Brazil, higher level of education, higher income and private health insurance most consistently associated with mammography adherence.

Psychological Safety as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Inclusive Leadership and Nurse Voice Behaviors and Error Reporting.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine psychological safety as a mediator of the relationship between inclusive leadership and nurses' voice behaviors and error reporting. Voice behaviors were conceptualized as speaking up and withholding voice. DESIGN: This correlational study used a web-based survey to obtain data from 526 nurses from the medical/surgical units of three tertiary general hospitals located in two cities in South Korea. METHODS: We used model 4 of Hayes' PROCESS macro in SPSS to examine whether the effect of inclusive leadership on the three outcome variables was mediated by psychological safety. FINDINGS: Mediation analysis showed significant direct and indirect effects of nurse managers' inclusive leadership on each of the three outcome variables through psychological safety after controlling for participant age and unit tenure. Our results also support the conceptualization of employee voice behavior as two distinct concepts: speaking up and withholding voice. CONCLUSIONS: When leader inclusiveness helps nurses to feel psychologically safe, they are less likely to feel silenced, and more likely to speak up freely to contribute ideas and disclose errors for the purpose of improving patient safety. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Leader inclusiveness would be especially beneficial in environments where offering suggestions, raising concerns, asking questions, reporting errors, or disagreeing with those in more senior positions is discouraged or considered culturally inappropriate.

Adaptation and validation of a Korean-language version of the revised hospital survey on patient safety culture (K-HSOPSC 2.0).

BACKGROUND: To date, there has been no universal and validated tool for measuring safety culture in Korea. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC), version 2.0 was released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2019, but it had not yet been translated and assessed for use in Korea. The aim of this study was to assess the content validity and other psychometric properties of the Korean-language version of the HSOPSC 2.0. METHODS: Instrument adaptation was performed using a committee-based translation, cognitive interviews, and expert panel reviews. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on data obtained through an online survey from 526 registered nurses who worked on medical-surgical units in three teaching hospitals in South Korea. RESULTS: One item was dropped during the translation and adaption phase of the study as being a poor fit for the Korean healthcare context, resulting in excellent content validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial structure of the K-HSOPSC 2.0. Correlations with an overall measure of patient safety provided further evidence of construct validity. Additionally, in comparing the results of this current study to those from U.S. research using the HSOPSC 2.0, it was found that Korean nurses assigned less positive scores to all dimensions of patient safety culture. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence of the content validity, reliability, and construct validity of the K-HOSPSC 2.0 for measuring patient safety culture in South Korean hospitals. Hospital administrators can use this tool to assess safety culture and identify areas for improvement to enhance patient safety and quality of care.

The relationships between nurses' work environments and emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and intent to leave among nurses in Saudi Arabia.

AIMS: To examine relationships between components of nurses' work environments and emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and intent to leave among nurses in Saudi Arabia. DESIGN: A descriptive correlational study with cross-sectional data. METHODS: Data were collected in 2017 from 497 Registered Nurses working in a large tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Participants completed an online survey like that used in RN4Cast studies to measure nurses' perceptions of their work environments and nurse outcomes. Hierarchical linear regression and logistic regression were conducted to examine the relationships between components of nurses' work environments and nurse outcomes after controlling for nurse and patient characteristics. RESULTS: Nurse participation in hospital affairs was uniquely associated with all three nurse outcomes, whereas staffing and resource adequacy was associated with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction, but not intent to leave. These two variables were also the components of the nursing practice environment that received the lowest ratings. Nurse manager ability, leadership and support of nurses, and nurse-physician relationships were associated with job satisfaction only. A nursing foundation for quality of care was not uniquely associated with any of the three outcomes. Finally, nurse emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between nurse participation in hospital affairs and intent to leave. CONCLUSION: Magnet-like work environments in Saudi Arabia are critical to recruiting and retaining nurses in a country with critical nursing shortages. IMPACT: This study addresses a gap in the literature regarding which components of the nurses' work environment are uniquely associated with emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and intent to leave among nurses in Saudi Arabia. Study results will assist Saudi hospital administrators and nurse leaders to develop recruitment and retention strategies by focusing on those work environment components most associated with nurse outcomes: participation in hospital affairs and staffing and resource adequacy.

The Enabling, Enacting, and Elaborating Factors of Safety Culture Associated With Patient Safety: A Multilevel Analysis.

PURPOSE: Worldwide, 1 in 10 hospital patients is harmed while receiving care. Despite evidence that a culture of safety is associated with greater patient safety, these effects and the processes by which safety culture impacts patient safety are not yet clearly understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of various safety culture factors on nurses' perceptions of patient safety using an innovative theoretical model. DESIGN: This descriptive, correlational study drew on deidentified, publicly available data from the 2018 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The study sample included 34,514 nurses who provided direct care to patients in medical and surgical units in 535 hospitals in the United States. METHODS: Multilevel linear regression was used to examine the effects of 11 safety culture factors on nurses' overall perceptions of patient safety. The 11 safety culture factors were grouped as enabling, enacting, and elaborating processes, and entered in separate blocks. FINDINGS: All 11 safety culture factors were associated with nurse-perceived patient safety, and all but two of the 11 factors uniquely predicted nurse-perceived patient safety. Staffing adequacy was the strongest predictor of nurse-perceived patient safety, followed by hospital management support for patient safety (both enabling processes), and continuous organizational learning and improvement (an elaborating process). CONCLUSIONS: Hospital administrators and managers play a key role in promoting a safety culture and patient safety in healthcare organizations through enabling and elaborating processes. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Organizational efforts should be made to provide sufficient staffing and hospital-wide support for patient safety. However, all staff, administrators, and managers have a role to play in patient safety.

The Revised Champion's Health Belief Model Scale: Predictive Validity Among Brazilian Women.

Mammography screening is provided free of charge for the recommended target population in Brazil but participation rates have remained low, and breast cancer mortality has continued to increase. Thus, it is important to identify factors that are associated with poor participation in mammography screening so that service providers can target health promotion messages and screening programs more effectively. Objective: To evaluate the predictive validity of the Revised Champion's Health Belief Model scale (RCHBMS) for identifying women at high risk of not adhering to national guidelines for mammography screening in Brazil. Methods: We used a longitudinal survey design with a 1-year follow-up data from 194 women living in northeastern Brazil, in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, participants completed the RCHBMS at baseline, and mammography uptake was measured 1 year later. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to determine the predictive validity of the RCHBMS for identifying women who had not adhered to recommendations for mammography screening, after accounting for the women's sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The sensitivity and specificity of various cut-off points were calculated to determine the optimal cut-off point for identifying women at high risk of not adhering to mammography screening guidelines. Results: Two subscales of the RCHBMS uniquely predicted nonadherence: susceptibility and barriers, along with race and family history of cancer. The total scale score (with barriers reverse coded) was also highly predictive. For our sample, using only the RCHBMS with a cutoff of ≤ 3.67 (out of a total possible range of 1-5) yielded a high sensitivity and specificity for predicting nonadherence. Conclusion: Study findings support the validity and clinical utility of the RCHBM for identifying women at risk of not adhering to national guidelines for mammography screening in Brazil.

Factors related to perioperative nurses' job satisfaction and intention to leave.

AIM: This study investigated factors associated with perioperative nurses' job satisfaction and their intention to leave. Recruitment and retention of nurses are particularly important in a specialist environment such as the perioperative setting where it is especially difficult to attract and retain nurses due to its unique environment. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were drawn from a larger study on nurses' work environments, conducted in one province of Canada. An e-survey tool, consisting of validated scales, was administered by the provincial nurses' union to a stratified random sample of registered nurses. The study sample consisted of 113 perioperative nurses working in acute-care hospitals. This study included two outcome variables (job satisfaction and intention to leave) and five predictor variables (three aspects of work environment, workload, and emotional exhaustion). Data were analyzed using multivariate linear and logistic regressions. RESULTS: A multivariate linear regression model explained 49% (adjusted R2 ) of variance in nurses' job satisfaction, and a multivariate logistic regression explained 19% (McFadden's R2 ) of the variance in their intent to leave. After controlling for work status and other predictors, nurse-physician relationship was significantly related to nurses' job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion was the key predictor for both outcome variables. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that higher emotional exhaustion is associated with decreased job satisfaction and increased intention to leave among perioperative nurses. The findings suggest that nurse managers should create an empowering and open work environment that fosters perioperative nurses' job satisfaction and reduces their intention to leave.

The Nurse LEADership for Implementing Technologies - Mobile Health Model (Nurse LEAD-IT - mHealth).

PURPOSE: Purpose of the paper: To describe the development of a testable conceptual model that examines the relationship between implementation leadership characteristics and nurses' use of mobile health technologies (mHealth) as part of their nursing practice. The model is currently being tested in the pan-Canadian context. CONCEPTS: Primary concepts and issues to be addressed: The 2014 and 2017 Canada-wide surveys of nurses' use of technologies reported seemingly low rates of mobile technology use: 3% in 2014 and 7% in 2017(Canada Health Infoway 2014, 2017). The agenda to increase the use of mHealth by nurses persists, though understanding of nurses' use of mHealth remains underexplored. Nurses' usage of mHealth has primarily been examined using technology acceptance models, which are limited in their ability to account for unique aspects of nursing practice. The Nurse LEADership for Implementing Technologies (Nurse LEAD-IT) - mHealth (Nurse LEAD-IT - mHealth) model draws concepts from implementation science, computer science, organizational behaviour, information science and nursing to develop a testable conceptual model. The model facilitates examination of the relationship between nurses' use of mHealth and leaders' implementation characteristics (proactivity, knowledge, support and perseverance) and technology acceptance (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), while controlling for factors that influence technology use (previous experience and voluntariness of use) and nurses' acceptance of evidence-based practice (age, gender and education). SIGNIFICANCE: Significance and/or implications for nurse leaders: The Nurse LEAD-IT model can aid in delineating the pragmatic skills and knowledge necessary for nursing leaders to successfully implement mHealth initiatives in nursing practice settings. Use of mHealth in Canadian nursing settings remain in the emergent stages; results from the testing of this conceptual model will be timely and important in informing current and future strategies by nursing leaders to best situate the development and implementation of mHealth for successful uptake and usage in nursing.

The effect of nursing care delivery models on quality and safety outcomes of care: A cross-sectional survey study of medical-surgical nurses.

AIMS: This study examined the effect of two components of a model of nursing care delivery, the mode of nursing care delivery, and skill-mix on: (a) quality of nursing care; and (b) patient adverse events, after controlling for nurse demographics, work environment, and workload factors. DESIGN: A cross-sectional exploratory correlational study that drew on secondary data was conducted. METHODS: Survey data from 416 direct care registered nurses from medical-surgical settings across British Columbia were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. Larger study data were collected in 2015. RESULTS: Nurses working in a team-based mode reported a greater number of nursing tasks left undone compared with those working in a total patient care. Nurses working in a skill-mix with licensed practical nurses reported a higher frequency of patient adverse events compared with those working in a skill-mix without licensed practical nurses. At higher levels of acuity, nurses in a team-based mode reported a higher frequency of patient adverse events than did nurses in a total patient care. CONCLUSION: Models of nursing care delivery components, mode and skill-mix, influenced quality and safety outcomes. Some of the team-based medical-surgical nurses in British Columbia are not functioning as effective teams. Team building strategies should be used to enhance collaboration among them. IMPACT: Research into redesigning care delivery has typically focused on only one care delivery component at a time. The study findings could have implications for nurses and patients, nursing leadership and policymakers particularly in medical-surgical settings in British Columbia.

Safety Culture, Patient Safety, and Quality of Care Outcomes: A Literature Review.

This integrative literature review was conducted to examine the relationships between safety culture and patient safety and quality of care outcomes in hospital settings and to identify directions for future research. Using a search of six electronic databases, 17 studies that met the study criteria were selected for review. This review revealed semantic inconsistencies, infrequent use of a theory or theoretical framework, limited discussions of validity of instruments used, and significant methodological variations. Most notably, this review identified a large array of nonsignificant and inconsistent relationships between safety culture and patient safety and quality of care outcomes. To improve understanding of the relationships, investigators should consider using a theoretical framework and valid measures of the key concepts. Researchers should also give more attention to selecting appropriate sampling and data collection methods, units of analysis, levels of data measurement and aggregation, and statistical analyses.

Effect of Nursing Care Delivery Models on Registered Nurse Outcomes.

The two key components of models of nursing care delivery are mode of nursing care delivery and skill mix. While mode of nursing care delivery refers to the independent or collaborative work of nurses to provide care to a group of patients, skill mix is defined as direct care nurse classifications. Previous research has typically focused on only one component at a time (mode or skill mix). There exists little research that investigates both components simultaneously. This study examined the effect of mode of nursing care delivery and skill mix on nurse emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction after controlling for nurse demographics, workload factors, and work environment factors. A secondary analysis was done with survey data from 416 British Columbia medical-surgical registered nurses. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderated regression. Registered nurses in a skill mix with licensed practical nurses reported lower emotional exhaustion when caring for more acute patients compared with those in a skill mix without licensed practical nurses. While mode of nursing care delivery was not related to nurse outcomes, work environment factors were the strongest predictors of both nurse outcomes. Skill mix moderated the relationship between patient acuity and emotional exhaustion. Nurse managers should invest in nurses' conditions of work environments.

Effects of Individual Nurse and Hospital Characteristics on Patient Adverse Events and Quality of Care: A Multilevel Analysis.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate effects of individual nurse and hospital characteristics on patient adverse events and quality of care using a multilevel approach. DESIGN: This is a secondary analysis of a combination of nurse survey data (N = 1,053 nurses) and facility data (N = 63 hospitals) in Canada. METHODS: Multilevel ordinal logistic regression was employed to examine effects of individual nurse and hospital characteristics on patient adverse events. Multilevel linear regressions were used to investigate effects of individual nurse and hospital characteristics on quality of care. FINDINGS: Organizational safety culture was associated with patient adverse events and quality of care. Controlling for effects of nurse and hospital characteristics, nurses in hospitals with a stronger safety culture were 64% less likely to report administration of wrong medication, time, or dose; 58% less likely to report patient falls with injury; and 60% less likely to report urinary tract infections; and were more likely to report higher levels of quality of care. Additionally, the effects of individual-level baccalaureate education and years of experience on quality of care differed across hospitals, and hospital-level nurse education interacted with individual-level baccalaureate education. CONCLUSIONS: This study makes significant contributions to existing knowledge regarding the positive effect of organizational safety culture on patient adverse events and quality of care. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Healthcare organizations should strive to improve their safety culture by creating environments where healthcare providers trust each other, work collaboratively, and share accountability for patient safety and care quality.