Staying silent during a crisis: How workplace factors influence safety decisions in U.S. nurses

It is critical for healthcare organizations to promote upward communication of safety information to ensure safety issues experienced on the work floor are promptly identified and addressed, especially during crisis events.

This study investigates mechanisms through which workplace factors affect nurses' motivation to speak up about safety issues, and ultimately their safety behaviors, in a pandemic work environment.

The work experiences of 152 frontline U.S. nurses were captured across three time-points during the height of a global pandemic.

Findings indicate that nurses who experienced a greater frequency of pandemic-related demands and/or perceived a greater social risk associated with voicing concerns were more likely to remain silent about safety issues due to job-related constraints or a fear of negatively impacting their reputation, respectively. As a consequence, nurses were more likely to bypass safety protocols while completing work tasks, especially those who had a lower risk propensity.

These findings advance the literature on workplace safety by investigating factors that affect employee communication and ultimately safety workarounds in nurses within the context of a global pandemic.