The Influence of Patient Safety Culture and Patient Safety Error Experience on Safety Nursing Activities of Emergency Nurses in South Korea

Introduction: The unique nature of the space and environment of emergency departments is a threat to patient safety. Enhancing patient safety and minimizing safety-related issues are important tasks for ED health care staff. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among patient safety culture, patient safety error, and safety nursing activities of emergency nurses in South Korea.

Methods: A convenience sample of 200 emergency nurses working in 12 general hospitals in South Korea were surveyed for safety nursing activities using the Hospital Survey of Patients' Safety Culture, a 4-item questionnaire for patient safety error and ED safety management items in the Guidelines for Patient Safety (seventh revision).

Results: Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the potential factors associated with safety nursing activities were safety training experience (β = 0.180, P=.01), organizational learning-continuous improvement (β = 0.170, P=.04), age (β = 0.160, P=.02), and implementation of domestic and foreign accreditation (β = 0.147, P=.03).

Discussion: To improve patient safety, it is essential to identify problems in medical institutions, determine areas of improvement, and improve the organization's patient safety activity system on the basis of patient safety error experience reports. After training the emergency nurses for continuous improvement, the effect of patient safety activities must be analyzed.