The Impact of the Work Environment on Patients, Families, and Care Delivery in Critical Care

A healthy work environment (HWE) is a workplace that supports nurses and interprofessional partners in providing safe, high-quality care. Although no consensus exists on the definition of an HWE or its attributes, common characteristics include effective leadership, strong communication and collaboration, shared decision-making, adequate staffing and resources, and meaningful recognition. The effect of HWEs has been studied extensively across the globe. Strong evidence supports the positive impact of HWEs on hospital safety cultures, care delivery, and quality outcomes such as patient-centeredness, continuity of care, failure-to-rescue, nurse-sensitive indicators, and patient satisfaction.