Impact of neonatal intensive care nurses' work environments on attitudes towards patient safety: A cross-sectional study in Türkiye

This study aimed to determine the effect of neonatal intensive care nurses' work environment on their attitudes towards patient safety. The study had a descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional designs. The study included 304 neonatal intensive care nurses in Türkiye. The online survey included an Introductory Information Form, the Patient Safety Attitude Questionnaire and the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, comparisons, reliability and normality tests, and correlation and regression analysis. While the neonatal intensive care nurses' attitudes towards safety were found to be negative, they had a favorable view of their working environments. According to the regression analysis results, quality of care; nurse manager ability, leadership, and support; staffing and resource adequacy; and nurse–physician relations affected the neonatal intensive care nurses' attitudes towards safety. Managers should organize neonatal intensive care environments in line with feedback from nurses. In this regard, it is recommended that managers should organize neonatal intensive care environments in line with the feedback from nurses. In this context, managers need to take measures to improve the quality of care, provide effective human resources management, and support communication within the team. In addition, it is thought that continuing strategies and programs to improve the leadership roles of manager nurses will positively affect the work environment of nurses and this situation will positively affect patient safety practices. This study provides information about nurses' working environments and attitudes towards patient safety and reveals the factors affecting these attitudes among neonatal intensive care nurses. These findings are valuable for the development of interventions to improve patient safety, especially for neonatal intensive care managers, nursing services managers, and hospital managers. •The neonatal intensive care unit nurses perceive their work environments as favorable practices.•Patient safety attitudes of neonatal intensive care unit nurses were negative.•The patient safety attitudes of the neonatal intensive care unit nurse managers were higher.•The neonatal intensive care unit nurses' the practice environment was associated with the patient safety.