Patient Safety Climate, Quality of Care, and Intention of Nursing Professionals to Remain in Their Job During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to examine the relationship between patient safety climate, quality of care, and intention of nursing professionals to remain in their job. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in a teaching hospital in Brazil wherein nursing professionals were surveyed. The Brazilian version of the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations tool was applied to measure the patient safety climate. Spearman correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression models were applied for the analysis. Results A high percentage of problematic response was observed for most dimensions, except for fear of shame. Quality of care resulted in a strong correlation with organizational resources for safety and with overall emphasis on patient safety, and the nurse-perceived staffing adequacy was strongly correlated with organizational resources for safety. The multiple linear regression model showed higher scores in quality of care in dimensions related to organizational, work unit, and interpersonal aspects as well as in the adequacy of the number of professionals. A higher score in intention to stay in one’s job was also found in the dimensions of fear of blame and punishment, provision of safe care, and adequacy of the number of professionals. Conclusions The organizational and work unit aspects can lead to a better perception of the quality of care. Improving interpersonal relationships and increasing the number of professionals on staff were found to increase nurses’ intention to remain in their jobs. Assessing a hospital’s patient safety climate will enable improvement in the provision of safe and harm-free health care assistance.