This survey of nurses found that those who rated their work environment as poor were more likely to report quality and safety problems, underscoring the well-described link between nurses' working conditions and patient safety. Improving nurse working conditions is a patient safety strategy.

… and patient safety. … Carthon JM, Lasater KB, Sloane DM, Kutney-Lee A. The quality of hospital work environments and missed …

Seminal studies in the United States have shown strong associations between nurses' working conditions and patient safety, with high patient-to-nurse ratios and greater patient turnover being linked to increased mortality. This multinational survey of nurses and patients found that improved nurse work environments and reduced patient-to-nurse ratios were linked to better perceptions of quality and patient satisfaction. Moderately strong correlations were found between patient satisfaction and nursing reports of care quality, although there were wide variations in both measures across different countries. This study lends additional support to the view that improving the work environment for nurses can strengthen patient safety.

Electronic health records (EHRs) offer great promise in improving patient safety, but remain underutilized in both inpatient and ambulatory settings. While physicians have voiced concerns about EHRs' ability to improve quality of care, this survey found that bedside nurses generally felt that even relatively simple EHRs (including clinical documentation and computerized provider order entry) did in fact improve patient safety. Prior studies have also found that EHRs improve nursing efficiency and the safety of nursing medication administration.