Does the risk of reprisal prevent nurses blowing the whistle on bad practice?

Despite the introduction of legislation to protect people who report poor or unsafe practice, whistleblowing can still have serious consequences for nurses.

To review the literature on whistleblowing in healthcare, and explore the barriers to reporting poor practice.

Studies focusing on whistleblowing in healthcare were used to assess the safety of incident reporting, and to determine what prevented nurses from reporting poor practice.

Four major themes were identified as the main barriers to whistleblowing in healthcare: experience of the nurse; confidentiality and reporting processes; incident severity; and personal beliefs.

Reprisal for whistleblowing remains a major concern for nurses. Patient safety could be improved by prioritising confidentiality and creating an environment where nurses feel safe to report poor practice.