Abstract
Objective:to evaluate the impact of a patient safety leadership program on head nurses and clinical nurses in the same nursing unit.Method:a pre-post quasi-experimental study that included 60 head nurses and 240 clinical nurses was conducted. Only the head nurses received patient safety leadership program training for 12 months. Before and after the training, the General Self-Efficacy Scale was completed by the head nurses, and the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Hospital Leadership Behavior Assessment Scale, the Safety Behavior Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory were completed by the clinical nurses. Descriptive and inferential analyses of the data were performed using absolute and relative frequencies, means and standard deviations, and paired t-tests to assess the effect of the training.Results:both the head nurses’ and the clinical nurses’ self-efficacy increased significantly (p <0.01) after the training. The leadership behavior of the head nurses and the safety behavior of the clinical nurses also improved significantly (p<0.05). We observed a statistically significant reduction in “emotional exhaustion” and an increase in “personal accomplishment” among the clinical nurses (P<0.001).Conclusion:the patient safety leadership program had a positive impact on the head nurses’ self-efficacy and leadership behavior and the clinical nurses’ self-efficacy, safety behavior and job burnout.
Highlights
As a global health priority, patient safety involves preventing medical errors and avoidable adverse events, protecting patients from harm or injury while receiving health care[1]
Since the Hospital Leadership Behavior Assessment Scale (HLBAS) needs to be evaluated by several clinical nurses directly led by head nurses[18,19], four clinical nurses in the same nursing unit as each head nurse were recruited through a random number table to fill in the questionnaires anonymously before and after the training
Sixty head nurses were recruited to participate in the patient safety leadership program (PSLP) training, and 240 clinical nurses were recruited to complete the four scales as the primary evaluation
Summary
As a global health priority, patient safety involves preventing medical errors and avoidable adverse events, protecting patients from harm or injury while receiving health care[1]. 4 out of 10 patients are harmed in primary and ambulatory care worldwide[2], 134 million adverse events occur each year in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries, leading to 2.6 million deaths[3], and global medication errors cost an estimated $42 billion annually[4]. The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that clear policies, organizational leadership capacity, data to drive safety improvements, skilled health care professionals and effective involvement of patients and families in the care process are all necessary to ensure sustainable and significant improvements in the safety of health care[5].
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