The relationship between safety climate and nurses' safe handling of chemotherapy: A partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis

Ying-Siou Lin; Bih-Shya Gau; Hai-Chiao Chen; Jyh-Chong Liang; Fuh-Yuan Shih; Yen-Chun Lin; Meei-Fang Lou

doi:10.1016/j.ejon.2022.102222

The relationship between safety climate and nurses' safe handling of chemotherapy: A partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis

Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2022 Dec:61:102222. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2022.102222. Epub 2022 Oct 6.

Authors

Ying-Siou Lin¹, Bih-Shya Gau², Hai-Chiao Chen³, Jyh-Chong Liang⁴, Fuh-Yuan Shih⁵, Yen-Chun Lin⁶, Meei-Fang Lou⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Second Degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
⁴ Program of Learning Sciences and Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Emergency Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: mfalou@ntu.edu.tw.

PMID: 36223659
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejon.2022.102222

Abstract

Purpose: Safety climate plays a critical role in nurses' safety behaviors. However, few are aware of the safety climate sub-dimensions associated with safety behavior. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between nurses' perception of the workplace safety climate and their safety behavior regarding the handling of chemotherapy upon intravenous administration.

Methods: This study included a cross-sectional survey of nurses recruited by purposive sampling at three hospitals in Taiwan. A total of 484 self-administered questionnaires were returned. Each participant had to complete the questionnaire that was developed by the authors, including the Taiwanese Safety Climate Instrument and Chemotherapy Safety Precautions Questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis and Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify the psychometric properties. We used the samples (N = 247) for confirmatory factor analysis to verify the model using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Results: We found that nurses' perceptions of workplace safety climate can explain and predict their safety behavior regarding administration chemotherapy, particularly the dimension of "perception of interaction with colleagues," "experience of clinical jobs hindering the use of personal protective equipment," "perception of comfort using personal protective equipment," and "easy usage of personal protective equipment." The study further revealed that the dimensions of the Taiwanese Safety Climate Instrument were moderate predictors of the Chemotherapy Safety Precautions.

Conclusions: Nurses have a positive perception of the workplace safety climate and frequently implement behaviors regarding the safe handling of chemotherapy. Organizational managers should enable nurses to share their perceptions of workplace safety with their colleagues and purchase easy-to-use and comfortable personal protective equipment.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Nurse; Partial least squares structural equation modeling; Safe handling; Safety climate.

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Latent Class Analysis
Least-Squares Analysis
Nurses*
Organizational Culture*
Surveys and Questionnaires