Shift schedule realignment and patient safety culture.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Patient safety culture is crucial for healthcare quality.
• Traditional shift schedules can lead to staff burnout and impact patient care.
• Optimizing work schedules is a key area for healthcare quality improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the association between shift schedule realignment and patient safety culture.
• To determine if changes in shift scheduling positively impact various aspects of patient safety.

Main Methods:

• A difference-in-differences model was employed for analysis.
• Two Indonesian hospitals (BIMC Hospitals and Siloam Hospital Bali) were compared.
• Data was collected before and after the implementation of shift schedule realignment.

Main Results:

• Shift schedule realignment showed significant improvements in staffing (p<0.001).
• Teamwork within and across units, handoffs, and communication openness also improved significantly (p<0.001).
• Reporting of errors and feedback/communication about errors demonstrated positive trends (p<0.001).

Conclusions:

• Shift schedule realignment positively impacts patient safety culture.
• This initiative alleviates staff workload while maintaining standard working hours.
• It is recommended as a quality improvement strategy for hospitals.