From the ∗University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research
†Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
‡University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO
§University of Genoa, School of Medicine Pharmaceutical Sciences, Genoa, Italy.
Correspondence: Eileen T. Lake, PhD, RN, FAAN, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 418 Curie Blvd, Rm 302 Fagin Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4217 (e-mail: [email protected]).
This study was supported by grants to the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research from the National Institute of Nursing Research (T32-NR-007104 and R01-NR-004513, to L.H.A., principal investigator) and from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The authors disclose no conflict of interest.
Through an analysis of clinician-reported safety, this study suggests that improving the clinical work environment may promote patient safety in the pediatric setting.
Safety events occur in hospitalized children as often as one event every seven admissions. Research has demonstrated that the work environment for clinicians is associated with better patient outcomes, but its association with pediatric patient safety is unclear.
Safety varies considerably across acute pediatric settings. Hospitals with poor work environments have poorer safety. Improving clinical work environments holds promise for achieving a culture of patient safety that increases the reliability of care and prevents harm to hospitalized children.
All authors conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the initial manuscript, revised the manuscript, approved the final manuscript, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
L.H.A. collected the data and performed the data analysis and interpretation.
E.T.L., K.E.R., A.B., E.S., and W.F. performed the data analysis and interpretation.
