Improving quality and safety in the hospital: The link between organizational culture, burnout, and quality of care

Abstract

The need to improve quality of care represents a major goal of all health care systems. The objective of this series is to illuminate how the contextual factors of hospitals from eight European countries, and the well-being of their healthcare professionals, contribute to either construct or degrade quality of care. The studies reported here provide an important bottom-up perspective on quality of care, and the way that burnout and organizational culture are intertwined within it. Overall, the collected studies represent an in-depth examination through focus groups of the experiences of 153 physicians, 133 nurses, and 46 patients from Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Turkey, Croatia, and the Republic of Macedonia. Each paper makes a unique contribution to the understanding of how institutional contexts, organizational management, and job characteristics impose constrains, both on the capacity of health workers for better treatment decisions and choices, but also on their day-to-day professional satisfaction and quality of life. Taken as a whole, the papers make an even greater contribution, by pointing out the underlying similarities and differences across these eight European countries.

Professional Quality of Life of Veterans Affairs Staff and Providers in a Patient-Centered Care Environment

“…In addition, reducing burnout can have positive impacts on patient care 19,20 and may reduce occurrence of infections and associated costs. 21 However, these alterations may not impact experiences of STS.…”

“…In fact, research suggests that understaffing and high patient load can result in low perceived degree of control and autonomy over decisions, 16 which can in turn decrease job satisfaction and increase the experience of burnout. 17 Research has also linked levels of burnout to patient satisfaction 18 and quality-of-care measures 19,20 such as frequency of urinary tract and surgical site infections among inpatients, even after controlling for staffing levels. 21 Stimpfel and colleagues 22 also found an association between length of nurses' shifts and burnout and patient dissatisfaction.…”

Burnout, clima de segurança e condições de trabalho em profissionais hospitalares

“…Entretanto, no que tange aos aspectos da segurança profissional dos trabalhadores de saúde, poucos estudos investigam os elementos de cultura de segurança , e menos ainda, o clima de segurança e suas relações com o burnout , mesmo que haja indícios de relações entre o burnout, a qualidade do serviço prestado, a sua segurança e a dos pacientes (Halbesleben, Wakefield, Wakefield, & Cooper, 2008;Montgomery, Panagopoulou, Kehoe, & Valkanos, 2011;Montgomery, Todorova, Baban, & Panagopoulou, 2013). Foi proposto um modelo visando articular aspectos das condições de trabalho, em particular a cultura organizacional, a qualidade do serviço e o burnout (Montgomery et al, 2011).…”

Professional Burnout in Anaesthesia and Critical Care - How to Decrease it

“…Conflicting shift schedules and working long hours without break affect the body's circadian cycle and lead to a degradation of performance [10][11][12]. In various studies fatigue was found to be an important cause of error in medical judgment [13]. A study reported an increased incidence of unintentional Dural puncture during epidural anaesthesia at night (midnight to 6:00 AM) [14].…”