Two sides of the safety coin?: how patient engagement and safety climate jointly affect error occurrence in hospital units.

Schiffinger M, Latzke M, Steyrer J. Health Care Manage Rev. 2016 Aug 6; [Epub ahead of print].

A positive safety culture has been associated with reduced adverse events, and many hospital units have paid significant attention to measuring and improving their own safety climates. More recently, some experts have advocated for the role of patient engagement in improving safety. However, this strategy is somewhat controversial, and currently there is little evidence to demonstrate clear improvements in outcomes. This study in 66 hospital units in Austria surveyed 4345 patients and 811 hospital staff to measure patient engagement, safety climate, and perceived error occurrences. Researchers found that patient engagement and safety climate were each associated with lower perceived error rates. The correlation between patient engagement and safety climate was not stronger than between either predictor alone, suggesting that these two approaches may not have a mutually additive effect. A prior AHRQ WebM&M perspective explored the role of patient engagement in enhancing safety.