Patient participation in patient safety—An exploration of promoting factors

Aims To study how internal medicine patients experienced patient safety during their recent periods of care and to identify explanatory factors for patient participation. Background Patient participation is recognized as one of the main factors promoting quality and safety and the identification of effective interventions that encourage safe care. Methods A cross‐sectional survey of patients ( n  = 462) in the internal medicine wards ( n  = 18) of all five Finnish university hospitals. Data were analysed using principal component analysis and multiple linear regression. Results Most patients (78%) assessed the level of patient safety on their ward as “very good” or “excellent,” 20% of patients assessed it as acceptable or worse. The following were considered to be the most important factors explaining higher patient participation: informing patients about the research and encouraging them to participate (β = 0.378, p  < 0.001), providing necessary information promptly and comprehensibly (β = 0.393, p  < 0.001), and enhancing patients’ ability to identify patient safety incident(s) (β = 0.186, p  < 0.001). Conclusions Healthcare workers must improve by encouraging patient participation and providing relevant information to patients. Implication for Nursing Management Nursing leaders must be competent to support, lead, and allocate resources for the creation of an environment where patient participation can occur and is valued by health care workers.