Exploring the impact of employee engagement and patient safety

Abstract

Background Health service administrators are continually investigating new ways to improve the safety and quality of health services. A positive and powerful relationship between employee engagement and patient safety has been suggested in the research literature, and steps can be taken by employers to enhance engagement to improve the safety of health services, particularly considering the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A review of peer-reviewed literature relating to the impact of employee engagement on patient safety within health services between January 2015 and May 2021 was conducted using CINAHL, Medline Complete, Scopus, Health Business Elite and Business Source Ultimate databases. A search of grey literature using the BASE database was also completed. Results 3,693 relevant articles were identified, of which 15 studies were included in this review. Ten articles measured employee engagement using existing, validated tools, whereas patient safety was most frequently assessed through surveys seeking staff member’s perceptions of safety or the quality of care they provide. Overall, there appeared to be a positive correlation between employee engagement and patient safety, but the strength of the relationship varied. Conclusion Anecdotal accounts of improving employee engagement and improving patient safety abound, and the evidence reviewed appears in agreement. However, research into the impact of employee engagement on patient safety is in its early stages. As health service managers consider the best use of funding to support safe and high-quality care, evidence to support the positive impact employee engagement has on patient safety may be useful in managing the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Counterintuitive consequences of COVID-19 on healthcare workers: A meta-analysis of the relationship between work engagement and job satisfaction

“…In addition, one of the inclusion criteria in this study was that publications should be in English. This criterion means that we did not synthesize the results of articles in other languages, and this may result in language bias (Scott et al, 2022 ). However, considering that the data of the included studies are from the Asian, Middle Eastern, European, and American health systems, it can be said that this situation does not create a language bias.…”

“…The chain effect of these negative changes in the work engagement of healthcare professionals on patient safety is another salient dimension. Thus, the changes in WE and JS impacted employees as well as quality of care in a way that threatens patient safety (Scott et al, 2022 ).…”

Performance of Primary Health Centres, Provider’s Perspective of Wellbeing, and Patient’s Assessment of the Centres Using a New Tool in Bangalore, India: An empirical study

“…Work engagement in primary healthcare settings is very important to unlock their true potential [46]. Engagement is positively related to patient care quality and safety outcomes, and thus patients' assessments of the service provision [47,48,49,50]. Various studies have shown that the relationship between workload and work engagement could be positive or negative depending on the country, resource availability and professionals being studied [51,52].…”

Job Resources and Core Self-Evaluation as Predictors of Nurse Engagement and Patient-Safety Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study

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