Barriers and facilitators to speaking up about patient safety breaches and unprofessional behaviour
| Items | Patient safety breaches % (n) N=837 | Unprofessional behaviour % (n) N=837 | p Value* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barriers | |||
| Getting someone else in trouble | 46% (389) | 45% (373) | 0.31 |
| Fear of conflict or eliciting anger | 42% (348) | 58% (482) | <0.001 |
| Alienating myself from the team | 30% (255) | 56% (470) | <0.001 |
| Lack of anonymity | 26% (214) | 34% (285) | <0.001 |
| Nothing would change | 22% (180) | 36% (305) | <0.001 |
| Not a priority given time constraints | 15% (127) | 29% (241) | <0.001 |
| Fear of poor (personal) evaluation | 9% (77) | 19% (163) | <0.001 |
| Not an expectation in my clinical area | 4% (34) | 7% (59) | 0.002 |
| Facilitators | |||
| Evidence that speaking up results in meaningful change | 58% (483) | 64% (537) | <0.001 |
| Anonymous mechanism for reporting | 45% (380) | 46% (387) | 0.59 |
| Greater commitment from leadership | 35% (291) | 37% (311) | 0.10 |
| Greater protection from retaliation | 27% (227) | 30% (252) | 0.03 |
| Institutional recognition of exemplary conduct | 24% (199) | 29% (242) | <0.001 |
| Communication skills training | 16% (133) | 15% (128) | 0.56 |
Respondents could choose more than one barrier and facilitator.
*p Value for McNemar's test comparing within-respondent differences in perceived barriers and facilitators to speaking up about patient safety breaches and unprofessional behaviour.