The effect of executive managers' walk round on patient safety culture in emergency nurses

Abstract

Abstract Background & Objective: Effective teamwork is vital in providing safe and effective patient care, especially in a high-risk setting such as the emergency ward. The culture of patient safety has a direct impact on the way work is performed and, consequently, on the safety of patients. One of the ways to promote the patient safety culture is to support the hospital's management team and improve the teamwork climate. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of executive managers' walk-round on patient safety culture in emergency ward nurses.Materials & Methods This quasi-experimental study was carried out in four emergency wards (two wards for the experimental group and two wards for the control group). From each group, 32 nurses were selected by stratified random sampling method and entered the study. For the experimental group, executive managers’ walk-round was conducted for five months. The safety culture questionnaire was completed before and after the intervention in two groups. Data were analyzed with SPSS22.Results The average scores of the patient safety culture of the two experimental and control groups were not statistically different before the intervention. Yet, the score of the experimental group was 130.44 ± 7.80 and that of the control group was 124.19 ± 8.76 after intervention, which showed a statistically significant difference (P ≤ 0.001). Besides, after intervention, the scores of "team work within hospital units" (P = 0.015), "overall perceptions of safety" (P = 0.042), "communication openness" (P = 0.020), "non-punitive response to the error" "(P = 0.001), "feedback and communication about errors" (P = 0.021), and also the total score of the questionnaire (P = 0.001) were higher in the experimental group compared to the control group.Conclusion This study provided further insight into the importance of hospital management's support in improving patient safety culture. Executive managers' walk-round increased the culture of patient safety in emergency nurses; thus, it is suggested to use the executive managers' walk-round to improve the level of patient safety and increase the quality of service to patients.