Communication openness and nosocomial infection reporting: the mediating role of team cohesion

Abstract

Background The states of IPC (Infection Prevention and Control) is serious under the COVID-19 pandemic. Nosocomial infection reporting is of great significance to transparent management of IPC in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to explore the relationship between communication openness and nosocomial infection reporting, explore the mediating effect of team cohesion in the two, and provide evidence-based organizational perspective for improving IPC management in the hospitals. Method A questionnaire was used to collect data on communication openness, team cohesion and nosocomial infection reporting in 3512 medical staff from 239 hospitals in Hubei, China. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was conducted to examine the hypothetical model. Result Communication openness was positively related to nosocomial infection reporting (β = 0.540, p < 0.001), and was positively related to team cohesion (β = 0.887, p < 0.001). Team cohesion was positively related to nosocomial infection reporting (β = 0.328, p < 0.001). The partial mediating effect of team cohesion was significant (β = 0.291, SE = 0.055, 95% CI = [ 0.178,0.392 ]), making up 35.02% of total effect. Conclusion Communication openness was not only positively related to nosocomial infection reporting. Team cohesion can be regarded as a mediator between communication openness and nosocomial infection reporting. It implies that strengthening communication openness and team cohesion is the strategy to promote IPC management from the new organizational perspective.

Patient safety incident reporting behavior and its associated factors among healthcare professionals in Hadiya zone, Ethiopia: A facility based cross-sectional study

“…Communication openness is when staff speak up freely if they see something that may affect a patient negatively and feel free to question those with more authority. Studies indicate that communication openness is positively associated with patient safety incident reporting which is in turn positively related to team cohesion ( Aldawood et al, 2020 ; Yu et al, 2022 ). Effective communication helps remove barriers to reporting near misses and errors and encourages open communication about how to prevent future harm ( Fadling, 2017 ).…”