A balance of unsafe care incidents and interactive cooperative care: A constructivist grounded theory study of safe care ecosystem for older inpatients

Abstract

AbstractAimsTo explore older inpatients and their caregivers' care experience and how this relates to the gerontology care practice.BackgroundResearch interest in the conceptualization of safe care for older inpatients was growing, and these studies were predominantly reported from a single or healthcare perspective. There is a shortage of literature on how patients and their caregivers conceptualise safe care.DesignConstructivist grounded theory.MethodsStage 1 included semi‐structured interviews with inpatients. Stage 2 included semi‐structured interviews with caregivers and six field notes. Purposive and theoretical sampling were used to recruit 61 participants across six healthcare institutions. Data analysis included initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding using constant comparative, field notes and memo writing.ResultsThe substantive theory to emerge from the data was A balance of unsafe care incidents and interactive cooperative care. This core concept was informed by four categories: unsafe care incidents, interactive cooperative care, person‐centred care, contextual conditions, and one care outcome. The relationships between these categories constituted a balance in which patient‐centred care was the core, unsafe care incidents were the barriers, interactive cooperative care was the facilitator, and the result of the balance was the care outcome. The balance constituted a safe care ecosystem under the interaction of contextual conditions.ConclusionsInteractive cooperative care is vital in enabling care stakeholders to reduce unsafe care incidents, which facilitates them in achieving safe care and further constructing a healthy care ecosystem.Relevance to Clinical PracticeThis theory identifies barriers and facilitators encountered by care stakeholders to cope with everyday problems and guides them in developing personalised care plans to ensure patient safety.