Nursing practice environment and employee silence about patient safety: The mediating role of professional discrimination experienced by nurses

Abstract

Aims: To examine the associations between nurse work environment with nurses' silence about patient safety and the mediating effects of professional discrimination experienced by nurses.

Design: Multicentre cross-sectional study.

Methods: Between January and April 2019, 607 nurses and nursing assistants from seven hospitals in Greece assessed their clinical environment using the 'Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index Revised-PES-NWIR', and the silence about patient safety. The 'Experiences of Discrimination Index' was adapted to specifically address experienced discrimination based on the nursing profession. The PROCESS macros for SPSS were used to examine the above associations.

Findings: Better nurse practice environment, with the exception of 'staffing and resource adequacy' dimension, was directly associated with less experienced professional discrimination, and directly and indirectly associated with less silence about patient safety, through the mediating role of professional discrimination experienced by nurses.

Conclusions: Silence about patient safety is dependent on the clinical work environment and may be a response of nurses to discrimination in the work context. Both an improvement in the nurse work environment and a decrease in professional discrimination would minimize silence about patient safety.

Impact: On many occasions, nurses are directly or indirectly discouraged from voicing their concerns about patient safety or are ignored when they do, leading to employee silence and decreasing the standard of care (Alingh et al., BMJ Quality & Safety, 2019, 28, 39; Pope, Journal of Change Management, 2019, 19, 45). Nurses' work-related determinants for silence are not clearly understood in the patient safety context. A favourably evaluated nurse practice environment is associated with less experienced professional discrimination and less silence about patient safety. To minimize silence about patient safety, both the nurse work environment and the experienced professional discrimination should be taken into consideration by nurse and healthcare managers.

Keywords: Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index; clinical environment; employee silence; patient safety; professional discrimination experienced by nurses; speaking up.