Issues and complexities in safety culture assessment in healthcare

Louise Ellis, Emma Falkland, Peter Hibbert, Siri Wiig, Eline Ree, Timothy J. Schultz, Christy Pirone, Jeffrey Braithwaite

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
86 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The concept of safety culture in healthcare-a culture that enables staff and patients to be free from harm-is characterized by complexity, multifacetedness, and indefinability. Over the years, disparate and unclear definitions have resulted in a proliferation of measurement tools, with lack of consensus on how safety culture can be best measured and improved. A growing challenge is also achieving sufficient response rates, due to "survey fatigue," with the need for survey optimisation never being more acute. In this paper, we discuss key challenges and complexities in safety culture assessment relating to definition, tools, dimensionality and response rates. The aim is to prompt critical reflection on these issues and point to possible solutions and areas for future research.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1217542
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
JournalFrontiers in Public Health
Volume11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • safety culture
  • safety climate
  • patient safety
  • survey
  • healthcare benchmarking

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