Study name: The Relevance of Psychologically Healthy and Safe Work Environments on the Experiences of Patients in the Health System

Opportunity: Seeling an MSN or PhD student for participation in any or all aspects of the research process. This is meant to be a co-learning experience. This is a one year project and remuneration is subject to study funding.

Study Purpose: Current research has documented that work environments where nurses work can be detrimental to patients (e.g., satisfaction and quality care). Also, poor wellbeing and high levels of mental stress among care providers are associated with poor patient safety results (e.g., medical errors, falls and other adverse events). Most often studies have used hard data and metrics rather than examining patients’ point of view. This study proposes to address this knowledge gap by exploring patient reported experiences with respect to the 2012 National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. The aim of this study is to find out how work environments (healthy or unhealthy as perceived by the care providers) may impact patients’ experiences with the health system.

Significance: Patients may be aware of subtle cues that indicate staff who work together lack collegiality, do not communicate, are not providing coordinated care or that the care provider seems to lack the right frame of mind to provide quality support or involve them in decision‐making. Such awareness may affect how patients respond to the care provided. The results of this study will contribute knowledge from a different perspective to improve the work environments for better patient and provider outcomes. This may give leaders more insight into what matters to patients when using the Standards in the workplace. In short, improving the wellbeing of care providers is thought to enhance patients’ experiences with the health system.

Setting: To be determined (e.g. hospital, ambulatory care, community) in Fraser Health Authority, BC.

Methods: We will use survey methods to capture patient and nurses experiences of the work environment.

Lead investigator: Dr. Angela Wolff, UBC School of Nursing Clinical Assistant Professor. Contact Dr. Angela Wolff directly at a.wolff@shaw.ca