Patient Safety Culture: Nurse Manager Safety Rounding and Influencing Characteristics

Abstract

In response to the growing awareness of multifaceted influences on patient safety culture, hospitals have employed a litany of tactics to reduce harmful events. The literature endorses executive safety rounding as being effective in promoting a positive patient safety culture. The influence of nurse manager safety rounding on patient safety culture is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of work systems, defined as nursing staff and organizational characteristics, on the process of nurse manager safety rounding and the outcomes of patient safety culture in the hospital setting. The complex ever changing healthcare system requires nurse managers to know what is occurring at the front-line to anticipate potential failures and design better systems and processes. This study utilized a cross-sectional design with data analysis of pre-existing survey data in nursing units within a large healthcare system in the southeastern U.S. The study participants voluntarily completed the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, which included three additional investigator questions related to work shift, manager contact and rounding. The most significant finding showed the nursing staff gave higher patient safety grades as the frequency of nurse manager safety rounding and contact frequency increased. This study affirms there is strong evidence to support frequency of manager contact and safety rounding impacts patient safety culture. Furthermore, the joint effects of nurse manager contact and safety rounding proved a synergistic effect on higher reporting of patient safety culture. Nurse managers can apply in practice open communication, feedback, and discussion about preventing errors with front-line staff to improve patient safety culture.