Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Oct;23(10):814-22.
doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002042. Epub 2014 May 13.

Exposure to Leadership WalkRounds in neonatal intensive care units is associated with a better patient safety culture and less caregiver burnout

Affiliations

Exposure to Leadership WalkRounds in neonatal intensive care units is associated with a better patient safety culture and less caregiver burnout

J Bryan Sexton et al. BMJ Qual Saf. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Leadership WalkRounds (WR) are widely used in healthcare organisations to improve patient safety. The relationship between WR and caregiver assessments of patient safety culture, and healthcare worker burnout is unknown.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey study evaluated the association between receiving feedback about actions taken as a result of WR and healthcare worker assessments of patient safety culture and burnout across 44 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) actively participating in a structured delivery room management quality improvement initiative.

Results: Of 3294 administered surveys, 2073 were returned for an overall response rate of 62.9%. More WR feedback was associated with better safety culture results and lower burnout rates in the NICUs. Participation in WR and receiving feedback about WR were less common in NICUs than in a benchmarking comparison of adult clinical areas.

Conclusions: WR are linked to patient safety and burnout. In NICUs, where they occurred more often, the workplace appears to be a better place to deliver and to receive care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three panels of WalkRounds exposure and one for safety climate. Each bar=1 clinical area, hash marks indicate a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There are 44 NICUs and 706 adult clinical areas from: Schwendimann R, Milne J, Frush K, Ausserhofer D, Frankel A, and Sexton JB. American Journal Of Medical Quality: 28 January 2013. The mean (SD) number of respondents per adult clinical area was 27.0, 46% of which were RNs (by comparison, the NICU mean was 47.1, 71% of which were RNs). RN, registered nurse.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Burnout and safety culture domains displayed by WR feedback quartiles. Comparison of the first and fourth WR feedback quartiles with domains of safety culture and burnout. SAQ, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire; AHRQ HSOPSC, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture; Safe Clim, safety climate; TW Clim, teamwork climate; OPS, overall perceptions of safety; TW w/in units, teamwork within units; Comm Open, communication openness; Error FB/Comm, error feedback and communication; WR, WalkRounds.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sharek PJ, Horbar JD, Mason W, et al. Adverse events in the neonatal intensive care unit: development, testing, and findings of an NICU-focused trigger tool to identify harm in North American NICUs. Pediatrics. 2006;118:1332–40. - PubMed
    1. Simpson KR. Measuring perinatal patient safety: review of current methods. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2006;35:432–42. - PubMed
    1. Frankel A, Graydon-Baker E, Neppl C, et al. Patient safety leadership WalkRounds. Jt Comm J Qual Saf. 2003;29:16–26. - PubMed
    1. Frankel A, Gandhi TK, Bates DW. Improving patient safety across a large integrated health care delivery system. Int J Qual Health Care. 2003;15(Suppl 1):i31–40. - PubMed
    1. Zimmerman R, Ip I, Daniels C, et al. An evaluation of patient safety leadership walkarounds. Healthcare Q. 2008;11(3 Spec No):16–20. - PubMed