Safety Culture in Nursing Practice

Definition and History 

According to the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (1993), safety culture is the product of an individuals and group values, perception, competencies, attitudes and patterns of behavior that wholly determine the commitment to in addition to the style and proficiency of the health and safety management of an organization (Afifi, 2015) . Safety culture is made up of three phases from the time people started expressing concern for safety till today. The first phase which occurred from the 1800s to 1900s was at a time when people were looking to safety as a technological issue and therefore decided to improve safety by making improvements to the equipment they were using to make them safer (Afifi, 2015) . The second phase however occurred when employers started emphasizing safety by concentrating on the skills of employees. This they did by employing the capabilities of their employees and consequently improving them to motivate employees and improve workplace safety. Moreover, the third phase of safety culture started during the 1980s and was mainly concerned with management philosophy towards issues of safety. 

Consequently, the third phase which mainly focused on safety research gave considerations to the American Management theory and the theory of accident causes analysis that primarily assumed that accidents happen as a result of either the mistakes or failures of humans. These two theories thus have the effect of motivating people to have an organization safety system with a management system that has specific responsibilities to all levels of employees in addition to safety planning for inspiring and motivating safety in the workplace (Afifi, 2015) . Therefore, safety culture is the extension of the third stage of safety researches and is the sole of safety management. Without safety culture, an organizational system is as good as dead. 

Application in Nursing Practice 

In healthcare, various consequences arise from medical errors. Often, these errors involve those with the intention of helping and not harming patients. Even though these medical errors are predominantly blamed on individuals, their roots are found in the combination of workplace environments where healthcare is delivered and in the interactions that occur among healthcare providers (Friesen, Farquhar, & Hughes, 2008) . Therefore, for these medical errors to decreases and for the safety of patients to improve, the healthcare system needs a well-established safety culture. Due to the proximity that nurses have to patients, they are in an excellent position to improve patient safety. Therefore, they have the insight of identifying problems in the healthcare system and additionally are part of the patient safety solution. 

Safety culture, therefore, is a fundamental part of healthcare provision and additionally serves essential functions in nursing practice. Safety culture in a healthcare organization often sets an environment where nurses can identify errors in the provision of healthcare and therefore provide safety solutions before dire consequences are met (Friesen, Farquhar, & Hughes, 2008) . In healthcare provision, bedside nurses are obligated to delivering direct and immediate care for any of the patients they are assigned to. They are to assess the general health status of the patients, identify the nursing needs that the patient might require, take and accurately record vital health signs, prepare the patient for and assist physicians with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This direct involvement that the bedside nurse has with the patient often requires undivided attention on the part of the nurse in addition to a strict following of procedures to avoid cases of medical errors. If an error occurs in the process of administering healthcare, a nursing department with a positive safety culture will be able to analyze the error in a nonbiased interdisciplinary manner and thus will ultimately succeed in improving care to the patient through an analysis process (Friesen, Farquhar, & Hughes, 2008) . 

Moreover, strong positive safety culture in a healthcare organization will enable CNOs to analyze and discuss reasons for errors in their practice in a way that is supportive to members of their staff. CNOs are required to maintain clinical and patient care standards at all times by ensuring that patients are safe and additionally have access to the right medical care. They formulate and implement new nursing strategies and are often required to maintain the high standard that other healthcare staff members can emulate (Friesen, Farquhar, & Hughes, 2008) . For this reason, CNOs with positive healthcare safety culture will have the potenti al of identifying solutions to various medical errors. Furthermore, a positive safety culture in a health organization encourages open and honest communication between CNOs and other nurses, a factor that will ultimately help in improving patient safety and outcome (Friesen, Farquhar, & Hughes, 2008) . Consequently, safety culture enables CNOs to sought input from the staff of nurses and once viable strategies are identified, solutions are implemented and disseminated throughout the healthcare organization. 

How Safety Culture is used in Nursing 

As a nurse, I play a very crucial role in creating a culture of safety within the clinical work area by maintaining an open line of communication with the rest of my colleagues. Additionally, I assess my peers and my professional work habits and behaviors for safety risks and utilize evidence-based practice interventions in my patient protocols. Moreover, since I have to participate in shared governance workgroups, it is, therefore, my responsibility to adopt a safety culture since it is fundamental for optimizing patient outcomes and workplace satisfaction (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2017) . Safety culture facilitates open communication between my colleagues and me and thus helps us to address practice issues that may impact the safety of patients. Moreover, safety culture allows me to vocalize the strengths of my team to other members of the organization which in turn helps to strengthen team cohesiveness. Consequently, by adopting a robust positive safety culture, my sense of awareness will be heightened which will assist in minimizing any distractions that I may have during high-risk tasks such as medication administration and handoff reporting (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2017) . Furthermore, safety culture allows me the opportunity to speak up in cases where patient safety or clinical practice is concerned, embrace EBP and additionally exemplify excellent team-building and communication skills that overall will help in saving more lives. 

SWOT analysis 

Strength 

As a registered nurse working in a large urban hospital, I have a goal to become a medical informatics specialist for a firm that predominantly specializes in healthcare data. Due to the previous expertise that I have in this field, I am confident enough that I will be given this opportunity. 

Weakness 

However, I have not been actively working in a record-focused job, and I additionally do not have any relevant coursework that will enhance my skills if given the opportunity of working as a medical informatics specialist. 

Opportunity 

I will have a chance of working as a medical informatics specialist if in any case the demand of consumers of medical and healthcare information expands. This is because, public health policymaking, biomedical research and development and trends towards using data to make strategic healthcare decisions will have a high likelihood of growing. 

Threats 

A threat to my goal will result when healthcare data firms start moving away from employing medical informatics specialists and instead start to rely on automated processes to fulfill the role that was previously held by medical informatics specialists. 

Traits of a Good Nurse Leader 

First and foremost, a good nurse leader is one who has highly-developed communication skills and therefore spends time in listening to what other nurses on the ground have to say (Carlson, 2015) . He or she will actively solidities information and listen deeply then afterward use the info gotten as part of ongoing assessment of the healthcare organization. Consequently, he or she continually uses a language that avoids shame and blame and one that is full of kindness and fairness. Secondly, I feel that a good nurse leader is one who shows fairness in his or her actions and although at times they may be faced with difficult decisions, they will make a decision with a strict sense of equanimity (Carlson, 2015) . Thirdly a good nurse leader is one who has self-knowledge. He or she is willing to review his or her behavior style and consequently admit any shortcomings and errors in his or her judgment and further continue to learn and grow in their position of influence and power. 

Safety culture is a fundamental part of a healthcare organization more so to registered nurses. It is the basis by which nurses ensure that excellent healthcare is provided to patients. It guides nurses in their daily activities of healthcare provisions and consequently ensures that healthcare is managed effectively for superior patient outcomes. A healthcare organization with a robust positive safety culture will have the opportunity of ensuring that healthcare is delivered to the fullest. 

References 

Afifi, A. (2015, May 21). Safety Culture History And Theory. Retrieved July 2018, from Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/safety-culture-history-theory-ahmed-afifi 

Carlson, K. (2015, October 18). 5 positive traits of a high-caliber nurse leader. Retrieved July 2018, from Nurse.com: https://www.nurse.com/blog/2015/10/18/5-positive-traits-of-a-high-caliber-nurse-leader/ 

Friesen, A. M., Farquhar, B. M., & Hughes, R. (2008, December 1). The Nurse's Role in Promoting a Culture of Patient Safety. Pp. 1-20. 

Wolters Kluwer Health. (2017). Our safety culture. (D. Charlotte, Ed.) Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, 15 (4), 4.