Exploring the Association Between Organizational Safety Climate, Failure to Rescue, and Mortality in Inpatient Surgical Units
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Published on: May 20, 2018
Cynthia Thornton Bacon1, Thomas P McCoy, Daryl S Henshaw
1Author Affiliations: Assistant Professor (Dr Bacon) and Clinical Professor (Dr McCoy), University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Nursing, Greensboro; and Associate Professor (Dr Henshaw), Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Objective:
To examine the association between organizational safety climate (OSC), in-hospital mortality (IM), and failure to rescue (FTR) in 2 hospitals, 1 with and 1 without crew-resource-management training.
Background:
OSC is 1 of the most important organizational factors that promotes safety at work; however, there is a lack of research examining the relationship between OSC and patient deaths in hospitals.
Methods:
We utilized a matched 2-group comparison of surgical patients and surveyed surgical staff to assess the relationship between OSC, FTR, and IM.
Results:
The OSC assessment was completed by 261 surgical team members. A total of 1764 patients had at least 1 FTR complication; however, there was no association between OSC with FTR or IM for either hospital.
Conclusions:
Nurse leaders should remain vigilant in building work teams with strong hospital safety climates. More research is needed to explore the relationship between OSC and patient outcomes.
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