Moira Attree

Methodological aspects in the assessment of safety culture in the hospital setting: A review of the literature

A thematic literature review was undertaken to identify methodological aspects in the assessment of safety culture and critically examine how these have been addressed in hospital-based studies of safety culture, for the period 1999-2012. The literature search included an electronic database search (BNI, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO), access to websites of organizations dedicated to the enhancement of patient safety, and a manual search of reference lists of the papers included. The analysis of the 43 records included in the review revealed that discussion regarding the measurement of safety culture in the hospital setting revolves around three methodological areas, namely: research approaches; survey tools for data collection; and levels of data aggregation. To advance these discussions, robust research is needed to clarify what dimensions belong to the core of safety culture and what the main sources of safety culture variability are. Studies using a mixed methods approach to assess safety culture would be useful, since they permit the in-depth research necessary to depict the multiple components of this construct.

Collaboration: a SWOT analysis of the process of conducting a review of nursing workforce policies in five European countries.

AIM This paper critically reviews the literature on international collaboration and analyses the collaborative process involved in producing a nursing workforce policy analysis. BACKGROUND Collaboration is increasingly promoted as a means of solving shared problems and achieving common goals; however, collaboration creates its own opportunities and challenges. Evidence about the collaboration process, its outcomes and critical success factors is lacking. METHODS A literature review and content analysis of data collected from six participants (from five European countries) members of the European Academy of Nursing Science Scholar Collaborative Workforce Workgroup, using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis template. RESULTS Two major factors affecting scholarly collaboration were identified: Facilitators, which incorporated personal attributes and enabling contexts/mechanisms, including individual commitment, responsibility and teamwork, facilitative supportive structures and processes. The second, Barriers, incorporated unmet needs for funding; time; communication and impeding contexts/mechanisms, including workload and insufficient support/mentorship. CONCLUSIONS The literature review identified a low level of evidence on collaboration processes, outcomes, opportunities and challenges. The SWOT analysis identified critical success factors, planning strategies and resources of effective international collaboration. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Collaboration is an important concept for management. Evidence-based knowledge of the critical success factors facilitating and impeding collaboration could help managers make collaboration more effective.