Patient Safety Attitudes of Hospital Nurses: An Ethnographic Study in Four European Countries

Abstract

Aim: The hospital work environment among cultures and the different social contexts among countries may influence nurses' attitudes towards patient safety. The aim of this study was to compare the attitudes of nurses working in public hospitals in four European countries towards patient safety. Design: A qualitative study with an ethnographic approach was used to observe and interview nurses at work in four European Union countries: Croatia, Hungary, Sweden and Spain. Methods: Critical case sampling was used to select participants from two public hospitals in each country. Data were coded and thematically analysed using Atlas.ti software through iterative close reading and open code review. Results: This is the first multinational ethnographic study of nurses' attitudes towards patient safety. The analysis identified two main categories: structural influences on safety attitudes and safety attitudes in practice. The analysis from this study suggests that the structural influences of safety attitudes (resources) may not be directly correlated with the actual work pressures of nurses in public hospitals in different countries, but are subject to the level of maturity of the institutions. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution.