Exploring the perceptions of midwifery staff about safety culture

Abstract

This study aimed to describe midwifery staffs' perceptions about safety culture and make recommendations for a positive safety culture that could benefit clients, staff and the organization. This work is part of a wider study exploring the perceptions of both nurses and midwives about safety culture. Data were collected through the use of focus groups and were analyzed using a thematic approach. The study was set in a large obstetric hospital with a diverse client population within an urban acute NHS trust in England. A voluntary sample of 5 senior midwifery managers, 6 community midwives, 17 midwifery students and 5 midwifery support staff participated in the study. Seven main themes were identified from the data: error reporting and under-reporting; client expectations of the service; feedback and learning; decision-making and staffing; communication; prioritization of safety; and staff safety. Key considerations and implications for practice were that: organizations must ensure that all staff are given the authority to complete incident reports; systematic feedback geared towards effective learning is cascaded to all levels of staff; targeted education and training on effective communication strategies and core skills for safety are offered to midwifery managers; foresight training is provided to all front-line clinical staff to make them more ‘risk aware’ and ‘error wise’; and patient safety is accorded the highest priority at trust board level.