Janes, G, Mills, T, Budworth, L et al. (2 more authors) (2021) The Association Between Health Care Staff Engagement and Patient Safety Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Patient Safety, Publis. ISSN 1549-8417
Abstract
Objectives: Despite decades of research, improving health care safety remains a global priority. Individual studies have demonstrated links between staff engagement and care quality, but until now, any relationship between engagement and patient safety outcomes has been more speculative. This systematic review and meta-analysis therefore assessed this relationship and explored if the way these variables were defined and measured had any differential effect. Methods: After systematic searches of Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Embase, Cochrane Library, and National Institute for Health Research Journals databases, narrative and random-effects meta-analyses were completed, with pooled effect sizes expressed as Pearson r. Results: Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, 11 of which were suitable for meta-analysis. Meta-analyses indicated a small but consistent, statistically significant relationship between staff engagement and patient safety (all outcomes; 11 studies; r = 0.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.07 to 0.36; n = 30,490) and 2 patient safety outcome categories: patient safety culture (7 studies;r = 0.22; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.41; n = 27,857) and errors/adverse events (4 studies;r = −0.20; 95% CI, −0.26 to −0.13; n = 2633). The specific approach to conceptualizing engagement did not affect the strength of the findings. Conclusions: This is the first review to demonstrate a significant relationship between engagement and both safety culture scores and errors/ adverse events. Despite a limited and evolving evidence base, we cautiously conclude that increasing staff engagement could be an effective means of enhancing patient safety. Further research is needed to determine causality and clarify the nature of the staff engagement/patient safety relationship at individual and unit/workgroup levels.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. |
Keywords: | patient safety, health care staff, engagement, patient outcomes |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Bradford Institute For Health Research BIHR/UOL Grant 19/20 Bradford Institute For Health Research BIHR/UOL grant 20/21 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Jan 2021 11:16 |
Last Modified: | 21 Jan 2021 11:16 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Wolters Kluwer Health |
Identification Number: | 10.1097/pts.0000000000000807 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170158 |
Download
Filename: The_Association_Between_Health_Care_Staff.99063.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0