Improving Patient Safety Through Formal and Informal Learning Networks

This paper explores a novel perspective on patient safety improvements, which draws on<br/>contemporary social network and learning theories. A case study was conducted at a Portuguese<br/>acute university hospital. Data collection followed a staged approach, whereby 46 interviews<br/>were conducted involving 49 respondents from a broad array of departments and professional<br/>backgrounds. This case study highlights the importance of two major interlinked factors in<br/>contributing to patient safety improvements. The first of these is the crucial role of formal and<br/>informal, internal and external social networks. The second is the importance and the possible<br/>advantage of combining formal and informal learning. The analysis suggests that initiatives<br/>rooted in formal learning approaches alone do not necessarily lead to the creation of long-term<br/>grounded internal safety networks, and that patient safety improvements can crucially depend on<br/>bottom-up initiatives of communities of practice and informal learning. Traditional research on<br/>patient safety places a strong emphasis on top-down and managerialist approaches and is often<br/>based on the assumption that „safety? learning is primarily formal and context-independent. This<br/>paper suggests that bottom-up initiatives and a combination of formal and informal learning can<br/>make a major contribute to patient safety improvements.