Nurses Perceptions of Supervisory Leadership for Patient Safety: A Narrative Synthesis

This thesis addressed whether trends could be found in studies that used questionnaires to ascertain nurses’ perceptions of supervisory leadership for safety in the context of patient safety culture. Thirty-five studies were analyzed. They used the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire, Safety Climate Survey, Survey on Safety in Nursing Homes, RN4CAST. One study used qualitative interviews. The result was that patient safety culture assessments should be interpreted relative to the context in which they are conducted. Results are not generalizable and trends among the studies could not be identified. Participants’ culture, workplace culture and geographic location were found to be important influences. It was also found to be important to reassess at intervals and examine the results in the context of the workplace at the time of each assessment. There is benefit to combining qualitative and quantitative methods to assess patient safety culture.