Feeling unsafe in the healthcare setting: patients' perspectives

This literature review aimed to discover the factors that contribute to patients feeling unsafe in the healthcare setting. Electronic searches were undertaken using three databases to examine publications from 2002 to 2016. The design used a modified Cooper's (1982) five-stage integrative review method. Fourteen articles were identified, producing seven themes: information and communication, loss of control, staff presence, impersonal care, patients' vulnerable emotional and physical state, not being taken seriously, and the patient perception of of a lack of staff experience, knowledge, proactivity and interest. The findings suggest that, in maintaining a quality service for patients, nurses can contribute to the reduction of patients' feelings of being unsafe and vulnerable. Patients do not just feel unsafe when errors occur, but also when service quality is noticeably poor. Where lack of quality is perceived as an indication of potential threat, this lack may contribute to patients feeling unsafe within the healthcare setting.