Impacts of job-related stress and patient safety culture on patient safety outcomes among nurses in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Background: Patient safety is critical in healthcare. Studies have documented high level of stress among nurses that may adversely affect quality of patient care and patient safety.

Methods: This study measured job-related stress, patient safety culture and patient safety outcomes among nurses in Taiwan. A total of 1562 respondents completed the survey. Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to explore the relationship between job-related stress, patient safety culture, and patient safety outcomes.

Result: Job-related stress was found to have varying influence on the perception of patient safety culture. Specifically, stress related to interpersonal relationship and work environment is negatively related to patient safety culture, whereas nurse–patient relationship stress is positively related to patient safety culture. Meanwhile, patient safety culture was found to have positive influence on patient safety outcomes and fully mediates the relationship between job-related stress and patient safety outcomes.

Conclusion: This study points to job-related stress as a challenge and hindrance to improve patient safety culture, necessitating implementation of appropriate strategies for managing stress among nurses. Patient safety culture is vital for healthcare organizations to promote patient safety and to enhance quality of care.

KEYWORDS:

• Stress
• patient safety culture
• patient safety outcomes
• nurse management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

I-Chi Chen

Dr. I-Chi Chen, received her Master degree from Taipei Medical University and PhD Degree from Yuan Ze University, Taiwan, respectively. Her research areas include work-life balance, patient safety culture and non-profit organizational management. She joined UTAR as an Assistant Professor since 2014. Before that, she was with the Graduate Institute of Human Research Management, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan from 2011 to 2013.

Ng Lee Peng

Dr. Ng Lee Peng is an Assistant professor of UTAR, Malaysia. She received her Master and PhD degree from Universiti Utara Malaysia. Her research areas include organizational behavior Stress and Burnout, Work engagement, Work-family/work-life interface.

Ng Hui Fuang

Dr. Ng Hui Fuang is an Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, UTAR. He received his Master and PhD degrees from University of Minnesota, USA. His research areas are machine learning and image processing.

Kuar Lok Sin

Mr Kuar Lok Sin is currently a senior lecturer of UTAR. He received his Master degree of Economics from Universiti Malaya. His research area is data analysis.