Patient Emotional Safety

Abstract

Patient reports of emotional harm during healthcare experiences require urgent action to center emotional safety as core to patient safety. We conducted a dimensional concept analysis to clearly define the dimensions of patient emotional safety. We propose a preliminary definition with dimensions that characterize patient emotional safety related to the experience of individual and structural dimensions of autonomy, human connectedness, practice of structural humility, and secure environment during healthcare interactions. This work serves as an initial step towards understanding patient emotional safety to inform future studies, education, practice, and advocacy to improve patient safety, quality of care, and health outcomes.