Quality management in health care
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Qual Manag Health Care · Apr 2008
Comparative StudyHow work context shapes physician approach to safety and error.
A study was undertaken to examine how different hospital clinical settings compare in their capacity for physicians to attend to safety and employ a learning approach to error. Multiple qualitative methods were used to examine medical residency teams in the emergency department, surgery department, and the medical intensive care unit. The focus was on how physicians responded to errors that occurred and safety-related issues, and what features of the surrounding work context were associated with those responses. ⋯ Surgery's capacity to deal with error and safety issues was adversely affected by the emphasis on hierarchy among surgeons, the high permeability of surgeons across hospital work settings, emphasis on individual blame when mistakes occurred, and workload. These findings highlight the necessity for health care organizations to conduct regular assessments of their clinical environments to help identify the workplace factors that shape clinician approach to safety and error. It also calls into question the singular, uniform approaches to enhancing quality and safety within health care organizations.