AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SAFETY CLIMATE AND MEDICATION ERRORS AS WELL AS OTHER NURSE AND PATIENT OUTCOMES

TLDR

Safety climate has been shown to be associated with a number of important organizational outcomes. The study investigates correlates of a broad safety climate—including protocol adherence and constructive error responses—within the health care industry. The authors adopt a broad definition of safety climate that includes both protocol development/adherence and open, constructive error responses. Results from a random national sample of hospitals show that safety climate predicts medication errors, nurse back injuries, urinary tract infections, patient satisfaction, perceptions of nurse responsiveness, and nurse satisfaction, with stronger effects for medication errors and back injuries when patient conditions are more complex.

Abstract

Safety climate has been shown to be associated with a number of important organizational outcomes. In this study, we take a broad view of safety climate—one that includes not only the development and adherence to safety protocols, but also open and constructive responses to errors—and investigate correlates within the health care industry. Drawing on a random, national sample of hospitals, the results revealed that safety climate predicted medication errors, nurse back injuries, urinary tract infections, patient satisfaction, patient perceptions of nurse responsiveness, and nurse satisfaction. As hypothesized, the relationship between safety climate and both medication errors and back injuries was moderated by the complexity of the patient conditions on the unit. Specifically, the effect of the overall safety climate of the unit was accentuated when dealing with more complex patient conditions.