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Safety Culture and Workforce Well-Being Associations with Positive Leadership WalkRounds.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Sexton, JB; Adair, KC; Profit, J; Bae, J; Rehder, KJ; Gosselin, T; Milne, J; Leonard, M; Frankel, A
Published in: Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf
July 2021

BACKGROUND: Interventions to decrease burnout and increase well-being in health care workers (HCWs) and improve organizational safety culture are urgently needed. This study was conducted to determine the association between Positive Leadership WalkRounds (PosWR), an organizational practice in which leaders conduct rounds and ask staff about what is going well, and HCW well-being and organizational safety culture. METHODS: This study was conducted in a large academic health care system in which senior leaders were encouraged to conduct PosWR. The researchers used data from a routine cross-sectional survey of clinical and nonclinical HCWs, which included a question about recall of exposure of HCWs to PosWR: "Do senior leaders ask for information about what is going well in this work setting (e.g., people who deserve special recognition for going above and beyond, celebration of successes, etc.)?"-along with measures of well-being and safety culture. T-tests compared work settings in the first and fourth quartiles for PosWR exposure across SCORE (Safety, Communication, Operational Reliability, and Engagement) domains of safety culture and workforce well-being. RESULTS: Electronic surveys were returned by 10,627 out of 13,040 possible respondents (response rate 81.5%) from 396 work settings. Exposure to PosWR was reported by 63.1% of respondents overall, with a mean of 63.4% (standard deviation = 20.0) across work settings. Exposure to PosWR was most commonly reported by HCWs in leadership roles (83.8%). Compared to work settings in the fourth (< 50%) quartile for PosWR exposure, those in the first (> 88%) quartile revealed a higher percentage of respondents reporting good patient safety norms (49.6% vs. 69.6%, p < 0.001); good readiness to engage in quality improvement activities (60.6% vs. 76.6%, p < 0.001); good leadership accessibility and feedback behavior (51.9% vs. 67.2%, p < 0.001); good teamwork norms (36.8% vs. 52.7%, p < 0.001); and good work-life balance norms (61.9% vs. 68.9%, p = 0.003). Compared to the fourth quartile, the first quartile had a lower percentage of respondents reporting emotional exhaustion in themselves (45.9% vs. 32.4%, p < 0.001), and in their colleagues (60.5% vs. 47.7%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Exposure to PosWR was associated with better HCW well-being and safety culture.

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Published In

Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf

DOI

EISSN

1938-131X

Publication Date

July 2021

Volume

47

Issue

7

Start / End Page

403 / 411

Location

Netherlands

Related Subject Headings

  • Workforce
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Safety Management
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Patient Safety
  • Organizational Culture
  • Leadership
  • Humans
  • General & Internal Medicine
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
 

Citation

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Sexton, J. B., Adair, K. C., Profit, J., Bae, J., Rehder, K. J., Gosselin, T., … Frankel, A. (2021). Safety Culture and Workforce Well-Being Associations with Positive Leadership WalkRounds. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf, 47(7), 403–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjq.2021.04.001
Sexton, J Bryan, Kathryn C. Adair, Jochen Profit, Jonathan Bae, Kyle J. Rehder, Tracy Gosselin, Judy Milne, Michael Leonard, and Allan Frankel. “Safety Culture and Workforce Well-Being Associations with Positive Leadership WalkRounds.Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 47, no. 7 (July 2021): 403–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjq.2021.04.001.
Sexton JB, Adair KC, Profit J, Bae J, Rehder KJ, Gosselin T, et al. Safety Culture and Workforce Well-Being Associations with Positive Leadership WalkRounds. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2021 Jul;47(7):403–11.
Sexton, J. Bryan, et al. “Safety Culture and Workforce Well-Being Associations with Positive Leadership WalkRounds.Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf, vol. 47, no. 7, July 2021, pp. 403–11. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.jcjq.2021.04.001.
Sexton JB, Adair KC, Profit J, Bae J, Rehder KJ, Gosselin T, Milne J, Leonard M, Frankel A. Safety Culture and Workforce Well-Being Associations with Positive Leadership WalkRounds. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2021 Jul;47(7):403–411.

Published In

Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf

DOI

EISSN

1938-131X

Publication Date

July 2021

Volume

47

Issue

7

Start / End Page

403 / 411

Location

Netherlands

Related Subject Headings

  • Workforce
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Safety Management
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Patient Safety
  • Organizational Culture
  • Leadership
  • Humans
  • General & Internal Medicine
  • Cross-Sectional Studies