Freedman, Benjamin, Li, Wendy, Liang, Zhanming, Hartin, Peter, and Biedermann, Narelle (2024) The prevalence of incivility in hospitals and the effects of incivility on patient safety culture and outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing. (In Press)

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Abstract

Aim: Workplace incivility is a barrier to safe and high-quality patient care in nursing workplaces and more broadly in tertiary hospitals. The present study aims to systematically review the existing evidence to provide a comprehensive understanding of the prevalence of co-worker incivility experienced and witnessed by nurses and other healthcare professionals, the effects of incivility on patient safety culture (PSC) and patient outcomes, and the factors which mediate the relationship between incivility and patient safety.

Methods: A systematic review with narrative synthesis and meta-analysis was undertaken to synthesize the data from 41 studies.

Data Sources: Databases searched included MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, PsycInfo, ProQuest, Emcare and Embase. Searches were conducted on 17 August 2021 and repeated on 15 March 2023.

Results: The pooled prevalence of experienced incivility was 25.0%. The pooled prevalence of witnessed incivility was 30.1%. Workplace incivility was negatively associated with the PSC domains of teamwork, reporting patient safety events, organization learning/improvement, management support for safety, leadership, communication openness and communication about error. The composite pooled effect size of incivility on these domains of PSC was OR = 0.590, 95% CI [0.515, 0.676]. Workplace incivility was associated with a range of patient safety outcomes (PSOs) including near misses, adverse events, reduced procedural and diagnostic performance, medical error and mortality. State depletion, profession, psychological responses to incivility, information sharing, help seeking, workload and satisfaction with organizational communication were found to mediate the relationship between incivility and patient safety.

Conclusion: Experienced and witnessed incivility is prevalent in tertiary hospitals and has a deleterious effect on PSC and PSOs. A better understanding of the mechanisms of this relationship will support the development of interventions aimed at reducing both incivility and patient harm.

Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care Impact: This study quantifies the effect of incivility on PSC and outcomes. It provides support that interventions focusing on incivility are a valuable mechanism for improving patient care. It guides intervention design by highlighting which domains of PSC are most associated with incivility. It explores the profession-specific experiences of workplace incivility.

Reporting Method: This report adheres to PRISMA reporting guidelines.

Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. The focus of this study is the nursing and healthcare workforce, therefore, patient or public involvement not required.

Item ID:	82504
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1365-2648
Keywords:	adverse events, disruptive behaviour, incivility, patient safety culture, patient safety outcomes, quality of care
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Date Deposited:	02 Apr 2024 23:00
FoR Codes:	52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology @ 60% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4205 Nursing > 420505 Nursing workforce @ 40%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2002 Evaluation of health and support services > 200206 Health system performance (incl. effectiveness of programs) @ 100%
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