ABSTRACT
Objectives: When adverse events (AE) occur, there are different consequences for healthcare professionals. The environment in which professionals work can influence the experience. This study aims to explore the experiences of second victims (SV) among health professionals in Argentina. Methods: A phenomenological study was used with in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals. Audio recordings and verbatim transcriptions were analyzed independently for themes, subthemes, and codes. Results: Three main themes emerged from the analysis: navigating the experience, the environment, and the turning point. Subthemes were identified for navigating the experience to describe the process: receiving the impact, transition, and taking action. Conclusion: SVs undergo a process after an AE. The environment is part of this experience. It is a turning point in SVs' professional and personal lives. Improving the psychological safety (PS) environment is essential for ensuring the safety of SVs.
Subject(s)
Health Personnel , Qualitative Research , Humans , Argentina , Female , Male , Health Personnel/psychology , Adult , Interviews as Topic , Middle Aged , Workplace/psychologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Every year, millions of patients suffer injuries or die due to unsafe and poor-quality healthcare. A culture of safety care is crucial to prevent risks, errors and harm that may result from medical assistance. Measurement of patient safety culture (PSC) identifies strengths and weaknesses, serving as a guide to improvement interventions; nevertheless, there is a lack of studies related to PSC in Latin America. AIM: To assess the PSC in South American hospitals. METHODS: A multicentre international cross-sectional study was performed between July and September 2021 by the Latin American Alliance of Health Institutions, composed of four hospitals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC V.1.0) was used. Participation was voluntary. Subgroup analyses were performed to assess the difference between leadership positions and professional categories. RESULTS: A total of 5695 records were analysed: a 30.1% response rate (range 25%-55%). The highest percentage of positive responses was observed in items related to patient safety as the top priority (89.2%). Contrarily, the lowest percentage was observed in items regarding their mistakes/failures being recorded (23.8%). The strongest dimensions (average score ≥75%) were organisational learning, teamwork within units and management support for patient safety (82%, 79% and 78%, respectively). The dimensions 'requiring improvement' (average score <50%) were staffing and non-punitive responses to error (41% and 37%, respectively). All mean scores were higher in health workers with a leadership position except for the hospital handoff/transitions item. Significant differences were found by professional categories, mainly between physicians, nurses, and other professionals. CONCLUSION: Our findings lead to a better overview of PSC in Latin America, serving as a baseline and benchmarking to facilitate the recognition of weaknesses and to guide quality improvement strategies regionally and globally. Despite South American PSC not being well-exploited, local institutions revealed a strengthened culture of safety care.
Subject(s)
Patient Safety , Safety Management , Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , Hospitals , BrazilABSTRACT
RESUMEN La seguridad del paciente es un elemento imprescindible de la calidad asistencial. Al menos la mitad de los eventos adversos en pacientes hospitalizados están en relación con la práctica quirúrgica. El Análisis Causa-Raíz es un estudio sistemático de estos eventos mediante una revisión paso a paso de la cronología de los hechos, para identificar las causas que podrían haber llevado a la producción del evento. El Diagrama de Ishikawa o "espina de pescado" es una herramienta gráfica es una herramienta útil. El éxito radica en lograr responder qué sucedió, por qué sucedió, y qué puede hacerse para evitar que suceda nuevamente algún evento que vulnera la seguridad del paciente. El propósito último es la mejora de los procesos asistenciales impidiendo la repetición del evento adverso y priorizando el aprendizaje y mejora a partir de su análisis. La comunicación institucional de los hallazgos del análisis y las medidas para implementar, la discusión de casos en ateneos de morbimortalidad y la educación continua del personal son pilares para el cambio en la cultura hacia una centrada en la seguridad y calidad, sustituyendo la cultura "reactiva" por una "proactiva", que toma los eventos como instrumento para el aprendizaje y la mejora continua.
ABSTRACT At least half of the adverse events on hospitalized patients are associated with surgery. Root cause analysis (RCA) is a systematic way of analyzing these events to find their causes through a step-by-step review of the chronology of facts, identifying those that could have caused the event. An Ishikawa diagram (also called fishbone diagram) is a visual method for root cause analysis that allows the identification and categorization of all possible causes of an event. The goal is to answer what happened, why did it happen, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. The ultimate goal is to improve healthcare processes by preventing the recurrence of the adverse event and prioritizing learning and improvement based on its analysis. Communicating the findings of the analysis and the measures to be implemented, discussing cases in morbidity and mortality meetings and continuous education of staff are the cornerstones for changing the culture towards one centered on safety and quality, replacing the "reactive" culture with a "proactive" culture, which considers events as an instrument for learning and continuous improvement.
