Nursing Home Patient Safety Culture Perceptions Among US and Immigrant Nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Patient safety culture (PSC) is a global concern.
• American nursing homes (NHs) increasingly employ foreign-born and trained nurses.
• Understanding PSC perceptions among diverse nursing staff is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare PSC perceptions between foreign-born/trained and US-born/trained nurses in urban NHs.
• To analyze how nurses' personal and professional characteristics correlate with PSC perceptions.
• To identify potential disparities in workplace safety culture experiences.

Main Methods:

• Survey distributed to 3539 registered nurses and licensed practical/vocational nurses in 98 urban NHs across 5 states.
• Utilized the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) NH Survey on PSC, assessing 12 PSC dimensions.
• Achieved a 46% response rate with 1629 returned surveys, analyzing 1133.

Main Results:

• Nurses born and educated abroad reported the most favorable PSC perceptions.
• Nurses born abroad but educated in the US showed intermediate PSC perceptions.
• Nurses born and educated in the US reported the lowest overall PSC perceptions (P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Foreign-born and trained nurses perceive their workplace safety culture more positively than domestically educated nurses.
• Further research is necessary to elucidate the reasons behind these observed differences in PSC perceptions.
• Investigating these disparities can inform strategies to enhance patient safety culture for all nursing staff.