How Nursing Home Professionals Frame the Perspective on Residents' Safety Management: A Q-Methodology Approach.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Nursing homes face complex challenges in managing resident safety.
• Understanding professional perspectives is crucial for effective safety strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify a shared frame of reference for resident safety management among nursing home professionals.
• To explore diverse subjectivities influencing safety practices in nursing homes.

Main Methods:

• Q-methodology was employed to analyze shared perspectives.
• Thirty-three nursing home professionals (nurses, care workers, social workers, physical therapists) participated in Q-sorting.
• Data analysis integrated interview transcripts, demographic data, and factor arrays.

Main Results:

• Four distinct factors emerged, explaining 63% of the variance in resident safety management.
• These factors include: individualised risk trajectories, ingrained safety principles, supportive safety environments, and coordinated safety with individual needs.
• Participant demographics: average age 46.03 years, 6.53 years of nursing home experience.

Conclusions:

• A resident-tailored framework for safety management is suggested by professionals' perspectives.
• Findings support interprofessional education tailored to nursing home settings.
• Highlight the need for guidelines balancing resident autonomy and safety, and assessing family involvement.