Professional failure to thrive: a threat to high-quality care?

The term professional failure to thrive arose from descriptions of non-organic failure to thrive in infants and observations of nurses' behaviours. First coined by Stamler in 1997, subsequent unrelated research results have supported the theoretical construct. In an era when patient safety and high-quality care have never been more important, and nursing retention has reached heretofore unknown levels of global concern, critical examination of factors that may alleviate professional issues and support high-quality healthcare is especially useful. In this paper, we suggest theoretical causes for professional failure to thrive (PFTT) and associated behaviours exhibited by nurses, and draw links to current research to support the theory. Given the theoretical support, PFTT represents an additional avenue that should be considered and explored through research studies.