Incorporating work experience of medical staff into patient safety climate management: a multi-group analysis

BACKGROUND: This study aims to provide insights on how to incorporate the work experience of medical staff into safety climate management based on the relationships among several safety-related constructs such as teamwork climate, working condition, and job satisfaction. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a regional hospital in Taichung City, Taiwan using a Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ)-based questionnaire. The relationships among the constructs were modeled by a structural equation model, and a multi-group analysis was performed. Among the employees participating in the survey, only physicians and nurses were considered in the analysis, accounting for 1596 out of 2277 responses. The key measures were the difference between the unconstrained and fully constrained structural models, the statistically different coefficients, and their strengths across the high and low-experience groups. RESULTS: Our multi-group analysis showed that the effects of management leadership on job satisfaction and of teamwork climate on safety climate were statistically stronger for low-experience medical staff, whereas the effect of working conditions on safety climate was statistically stronger for high-experience medical staff. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate how to incorporate the work experience of medical staff into safety climate management. In summary, by focusing on different safety constructs for the less and more experienced staff—job satisfaction and teamwork climate for the less experienced, working conditions for the more experienced—management may be able to improve the organizational safety climate. Our suggestions in this study can be leveraged, should management implement the initiatives and action plans for safety climate improvement.