Instruments for measuring patient safety competencies in nursing: a scoping review

Abstract

BackgroundPatient safety competencies in nursing are essential for the quality of healthcare. To develop practices and collaboration in nursing care, valid instruments that measure competencies in patient safety are needed.ObjectiveTo identify instruments that measure the patient safety competencies of nurses.DesignA scoping review.Data sourcesThe Cochran Library, Epistemonikos, Eric, Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched for articles reporting on instruments measuring patient safety competence in nursing. The search was limited to English peer-reviewed scientific papers published from January 2010 to April 2021.Review methodA blinded selection of articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria was performed by two researchers based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Data were then extracted, synthesised and presented in tables and text.ResultsOur search identified 1,426 papers, of which 32 met the inclusion criteria. The selected papers described nine instruments, of which the ‘Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey’ was the most used instrument. The identified instruments comprised domains for patient safety skills, attitudes, knowledge, communication, teamwork and errors. The instruments had been tested for content (face) and construct validity as well as for reliability. However, sensitivity and responsiveness were rarely assessed.ConclusionsOver the last decade, there has been a growing body of instruments aimed at measuring patient safety competencies among nurses. The future development of new instruments should consider including the important dimension of ethics in patient safety as well as evaluating the instrument’s responsiveness to be able to track changes over time.

Development and Psychometric Testing of the Thai-Patient Safety Competency Scale for New Graduate Nurses

“…16 Safe practice requires clinical skills and knowledge needed for patient safety. 17 Thus, to ensure that new nurses can deliver safe patient care during their transition from nursing students to professional nurses, assessing PSC and identifying deficient competencies of new graduate nurses are needed. A PSC measurement tool is critical in Thailand.…”

“…Nine existing instruments were developed to assess nurses' level of PSC. 17 Almost all instruments were developed in Western countries, and no existing PSC tool can comprehensively assess the competence of new graduate nurses related to patient safety in the Thai nursing context. Thus, this study intended to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Thai-Patient Safety Competency Scale (Thai-PSCS) for New Graduate Nurses.…”

Students’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards pressure ulcer prevention and management

“…Therefore, Ebi, Hirko and Mijena (2019) emphasise that it is essential that nurses from the initial years of enrolment in the nursing training programme be oriented to the prevention and management of existing pressure ulcers presented by patients on admission. Internationally, the competencies of undergraduate nursing students have been a challenge that prompted high-income countries to develop instruments for measuring patient safety (Mortensen et al 2022) to limit the worse outcome. However, Uba et al (2015) and Lotfi et al (2019) alluded that low-income and middle-income countries have delayed progress with moderate to low competence of nurses on prevention of pressure ulcers, notably because of limited exposure in the clinical practice.…”

Effects of burnout and work engagement in the relationship between self‐efficacy and safety behaviours—A chained mediation modelling analysis

“…Patient safety is a serious public health issue, and in recent years, the incidence of adverse medical events and safety hazards has been continuously increasing (Hafezi et al., 2022). The WHO (Mortensen et al., 2022) pointed out that in developed countries, one out of every 10 patients suffers preventable injuries. In developing countries, the risks associated with healthcare are 20 times higher than those in developed countries.…”