Aim: To clarify the concept of psychological safety in a healthcare context and to provide the first theoretical framework for improving interpersonal relationships in the workplace to better patient care.
Design: A Rodgers' concept analysis.
Methods: The concept analysis was conducted using a systematic search strategy on PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Ichushi-Web.
Results: An analysis of 88 articles studying psychological safety in health care identified five attributes: perceptions of the consequences of taking interpersonal risks, strong interpersonal relationships, group-level phenomenon, safe work environment for taking interpersonal risks and non-punitive culture. The antecedents included structure/system factors, interpersonal factors and individual factors. The four consequences included performance outcomes, organizational culture outcomes, and psychological and behavioural outcomes.
Keywords: concept analysis; health care; interpersonal risk; learning behaviour; patient safety; psychological safety; reporting error; speaking up.
© 2021 The Authors. Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.