Nurses' Patient Safety Compliance and Patient Safety Participation: A Scoping Review

Adverse events to patients continue to be a significant global concern. Although some of these events are preventable through improved safety behaviours among nurses, research has primarily focused on safety culture, safety systems, and policy, often overlooking individual factors such as nurses' safety behaviours. A deeper understanding of the factors influencing nurses' compliance with patient safety protocols and their active participation in safety initiatives is essential for promoting safer patient care. In this review, we aim to identify factors that determine nurses' patient safety behaviours-both patient safety compliance and participation-and highlight existing research gaps.

A scoping review was conducted in November 2023 utilizing the databases PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Ichushi-Web. Two researchers independently screened articles for inclusion. The factors influencing patient safety behaviours were extracted from the selected studies and categorized based on their characteristics and relevance.

Of the 286 articles screened, 5 were included. Factors influencing nurses' patient safety behaviours were categorized into the following groups: contextual (patient safety climate, hospital characteristics, and job demands); individual (motivation, perception of patient safety behaviours, experience with patient safety, knowledge of patient safety, and demographic characteristics); and cross-level interaction (contextual × individual factors).

Our findings underscore the importance of addressing both contextual and individual factors in promoting nurses' patient safety behaviours. Nurse managers should develop patient safety systems while also understanding the individual factors influencing patient safety behaviours and their interaction with the broader organizational context.