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The meaning of justice in safety incident reporting

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  • Weiner, Bryan Jeffrey
  • Hobgood, Cherri
  • Lewis, Megan A.

Abstract

Safety experts contend that to make incident reporting work, healthcare organizations must establish a "just" culture--that is, an organizational context in which health professionals feel assured that they will receive fair treatment when they report safety incidents. Although healthcare leaders have expressed keen interest in establishing a just culture in their institutions, the patient safety literature offers little guidance as to what the term "just culture" really means or how one goes about creating a just culture. Moreover, the safety literature does not indicate what constitutes a just incident reporting process in the eyes of the health professionals who provide direct patient care. This gap is unfortunate, for knowing what constitutes a just incident reporting process in the eyes of front-line health professionals is essential for designing useful information systems to detect, monitor, and correct safety problems. In this article, we seek to clarify the conceptual meaning of just culture and identify the attributes of incident reporting processes that make such systems just in the eyes of health professionals. To accomplish these aims, we draw upon organizational justice theory and research to develop a conceptual model of perceived justice in incident reporting processes. This model could assist those healthcare leaders interested in creating a just culture by clarifying the multiple meanings, antecedents, and consequences of justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiner, Bryan Jeffrey & Hobgood, Cherri & Lewis, Megan A., 2008. "The meaning of justice in safety incident reporting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 403-413, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:2:p:403-413
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Schrøder, Katja & la Cour, Karen & Jørgensen, Jan Stener & Lamont, Ronald F. & Hvidt, Niels Christian, 2017. "Guilt without fault: A qualitative study into the ethics of forgiveness after traumatic childbirth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 14-20.
    2. Holmström, Anna-Riia & Laaksonen, Raisa & Airaksinen, Marja, 2015. "How to make medication error reporting systems work – Factors associated with their successful development and implementation," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(8), pages 1046-1054.

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