How do hospital inpatients conceptualise patient safety? A qualitative interview study using constructivist grounded theory (5 October 2022)

Summary

Efforts to involve patients in patient safety continue to revolve around professionally derived notions of minimising clinical risk, yet evidence suggests that patients hold perspectives on patient safety that differ from clinicians and academics.

This study, across three clinical specialties, explores how hospital inpatients conceptualise patient safety and develops a conceptual model. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests patients predominantly conceptualise patient safety in the context of what makes them ‘feel safe’, which is distinct from clinical and academic definitions of safety.

There is a need to incorporate a new patient safety paradigm that includes what it means to feel safe in hospital, from the patient perspective; this work provides the first step in achieving this. Additional research should further test our conceptual model and explore how it can be practically applied and implemented in healthcare settings.