Patient safety culture refers to a comprehensive framework of values, beliefs, and norms that a healthcare organization has to support and promote the safety of its patients. These values capture all organizational levels, such as system, unit, and department, and impact personnel’s actions and behaviors throughout the organization. The burden and cost of patient safety are consistently high, leading to mortality and morbidity of patients. Therefore, it is now a predominant focus of most healthcare institutions. Importantly, an organizational safety culture can also prevent illnesses and injuries in the healthcare workplace (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). This can make personnel well-equipped and ready to provide healthcare services on a high level. Workers who worry about their safety and health in a work environment where safety is not prioritized are less likely to provide patient error-free care. Therefore, the patient safety culture is a multi-dimensional issue that requires the consideration of both patients and personnel.
To facilitate patient safety in the healthcare environment, facilities must embed a safety culture, including considerations of infectious diseases, safe patient handling to prevent injuries and musculoskeletal disorders, workplace violence, and avoiding hazards. Within the safety culture, organizational factors are the most significant predictors of safe work behaviors (United States Department of Labor, n.d). This means that it is necessary to show compliance with the standard types of precautions to ensure that patients and practitioners feel safe and secure in the healthcare environment. Besides, safety culture has a significant influence on the implementation of training skills and knowledge. The lack of a safety culture makes it problematic to comply with the recommended infection control guidance, safe patient handling, unexpected hazards, and workplace violence. Effective safety culture is developed through the management actions for improving patient and worker safety, the participation of workers in safety planning, the availability of appropriate protective equipment, the impact of group norms regarding acceptable safety practices, and the organizational socialization processes for new personnel.
To ensure successful safety and health management systems that will address the concerns of both patients and personnel, it is necessary to implement several essential elements into action. These elements include effective management leadership, the participation of workers, the identification and assessment of hazards, the control and prevention of risks, training, and education, as well as system improvement and evaluation (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). Each of these mentioned elements plays a part in ensuring the success of the overall system, while they can also be interrelated and interdependent. Because the practice in every healthcare facility is different, it is advised to scale the elements and adjust them to meet the needs of an organization.
The final point to mention is that healthcare systems that have a strong commitment to management and active worker participation are more effective at reducing safety risks, while “paper systems” are ineffective. Therefore, it is imperative to implement strong and visible management leadership to facilitate the implementation of essential steps in the employer’s bottom line. When employees are encouraged to participate in safety planning and they see that their contributions are taken seriously, they tend to be more productive and satisfied. This means that the safety of patients can be achieved collaboratively through the work of leaders and their subordinates who share the same vision of safety.
Reference
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). Culture of safety. Web.
United States Department of Labor. (n.d). Healthcare. Web.