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Published Version (Advanced Access)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The development of patient safety and the influence of the nurse: A discursive narrative
Contemporary Nurse, Vol.61(4), pp.401-415
2025
PMID: 40411746
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Background
Death, harm, or adverse outcomes as a result of accessing healthcare were recognised as a global endemic in the late 1990s and the trigger for the contemporary patient safety discipline.
Aim
To critically review the development of the patient safety movement; and, to determine the influence of the practitioner, in particular, nurses on patient safety.
Design
A discursive narrative using a conceptual framework.
Methods
We developed a conceptual framework consisting of the patient, practitioner, clinical setting, profession, clinical setting, culture of risk, wider society, and the healthcare system, to analyse the development of the patient safety movement. The data sources were considered across three eras commencing with Ancient Greece to the twenty-first century.
Findings
There has been no reduction in patient harm rates across two decades either in Australia or globally, despite resourcing and financial investment. The application of a conceptual model to analyse the influences on the development of the patient safety movement is the contemporary innovation of this discursive narrative. The importance of the practitioner and their influence across all eras was illustrated. The practitioner is the final critical line of defence to maintain the minimum requirement of patient safety.
Conclusion
Patients are no safer accessing healthcare then they were two decades ago. Nurses spend more time with patients than any other health discipline and therefore have a critical role in monitoring and maintaining safe care. Yet, the influence of the nursing profession on the development of the patient safety movement is largely absent in the literature. There is a need for a standardised approach to teaching and evaluating patient safety curricula.
Reporting Method
No EQUATOR guidelines were discovered for the discursive paper format.
Details
- Title
- The development of patient safety and the influence of the nurse: A discursive narrative
- Authors
- Leisa Swift (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - NursingLauren Kearney - The University of QueenslandTracy Levett-Jones - University of Technology SydneyFiona Bogossian - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health
- Publication details
- Contemporary Nurse, Vol.61(4), pp.401-415
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1080/10376178.2025.2507908
- ISSN
- 1839-3535; 1037-6178
- PMID
- 40411746
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health; School of Health - Nursing
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991129951702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Nursing
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