Factors Associated With Patient Safety Activities of Clinical Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Secondary Data Analysis

Abstract

Aims: To examine the associations between patient safety silence, culture, competency, and activities among clinical nurses. Background: Patient safety ensures harm prevention and quality of care. Factors such as silence, culture, and competency are widely recognized as significantly associated with patient safety activities, but limited research has examined their interrelationships. Design: Cross-sectional secondary data analysis. Methods: This study used data from a study that investigated the patient safety educational needs of 291 nurses from general hospitals located in the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnamdo regions of South Korea. To assess patient safety activities, silence, culture, and competency, the study employed the Patient Safety Activities Questionnaire, Patient Safety Silence Scale, Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, and Patient Safety Competency Self-Evaluation Tool, respectively. The analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression using SPSS 27.0. Results: The factors of silence and receiving patient safety education only once were negatively associated with patient safety activities. Positive associations were found for teamwork within the culture subdomain, skills within the competency subdomain, and hospital size. Conclusions: These findings provide a basis for educational programs to improve nursing skills and highlight the need to build an open and collaborative organizational culture. Implications for nursing: Clinical nurses should develop patient safety skills, report patient safety incidents, and collaborate with team members to foster an open and cooperative organizational culture. Implications for nursing policy: To minimize silence, while strengthening teamwork, organizations actively foster a culture of openness and collaboration. Education should be managed to meet minimum standards, and hospital-specific policies should be tailored according to each institution's size and characteristics.