Impact of the Work Environment on Patients’ Safety as Perceived by Nurses in Poland—A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Numerous studies have found that organizational features connected with the work environment of nurses have a significant influence on patients’ safety. The aim of this research was to capture nurses’ opinions about patients’ safety and discern relationships with work environment characteristics. This cross-sectional study surveyed 1825 nurses. The research used questionnaire consisting of four parts: (1) covered The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI); (2) assessed the quality of nursing care and care safety; (3) contained information on the most recent duty served by the nurses and (4) captured social and demographic data of participants. The research identified strong association between patient safety assessment and work environment of nurses in the aspect of employment adequacy, cooperation between nurses and doctors, support for nurses from the managing staff, the possibility to participate in the management as well as professional promotion of nurses employed in the hospital (p < 0.001). Nurses rated patient safety higher when responsible for a smaller number of patients. Work environment factors such as proper staffing, good cooperation with doctors, support from the management, as well as professional independence are significantly related to nurses’ assessment of patients’ safety.

Nurse performance: A path model of clinical leadership, creative team climate and structural empowerment

“…It provides important structures that stabilise the organisation, allowing nurse clinicians to successfully respond to situational complexities (Cain et al, 2018). In this study, CTC and SE had positive effects on NP (H7, H8) and these are consistent with previous studies (Isaksen & Akkermans, 2011; Malinowska‐Lipień et al, 2021; Wei et al, 2018). The previous literature determined that work environments are not optimal for inducing a high level of efficacy from clinical leaders (Catania et al, 2012).…”

Clima de segurança nos ambientes de cuidado à saúde: revisão de escopo

“…A Atenção Primária e Instituições de Longa Permanência se apresentam como ambientes de cuidado pouco estudados, considerando o quantitativo de estudos analisados. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] A análise do clima de segurança de forma organizacional pode subnotificar a existência de microculturas nas instituições de saúde. A especificidade dos setores pode implicar na percepção e identificação dos riscos, tornando o clima de segurança vulnerável quando analisado de forma sistêmica, por isso observam-se estudos que contemplem linhas de cuidados ou especialidades.…”

Analyzing and Validating a Structure for Measuring the Nurse Practice Environment

“…Furthermore, reviewing 37 studies, Warshawsky and Havens (2011) report a strong association between the PES-NWI and a range of outcomes at the nurse, patient, and organizational levels [ 21 ]. For example, nurses’ perception of patient safety is associated with several subscales in the PES-NWI [ 22 ], while several subscales are also associated with resilience in new nurses [ 23 ]. The frequency of use of the PES-NWI in subsequent research has remained high [ 15 , 24 ] and is robust to nursing settings in countries outside the U.S [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”