The role of the print media in informing the community about safety in public hospitals in Victoria, Australia: the case of "golden staph".

Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9434628 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 1353-4505 (Print) Linking ISSN: 13534505 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Qual Health Care Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Oxford : Oxford University Press
Original Publication: Kidlington, Oxford, UK ; Tarrytown, NY : Pergamon, c1994-

Bibliometrics* ; Safety Management*; Cross Infection/*prevention & control ; Health Education/*methods ; Hospitals, Public/*standards ; Mass Media/*statistics & numerical data ; Publishing/*statistics & numerical data ; Staphylococcal Infections/*prevention & control; Cross Infection/drug therapy ; Cross Infection/microbiology ; Drug Resistance ; Humans ; Infection Control/standards ; Newspapers as Topic ; Organizational Case Studies ; Periodicals as Topic ; Risk Assessment ; Role ; Staphylococcal Infections/drug therapy ; Staphylococcus aureus/drug effects ; Victoria

Objective: In this article the authors explore how the print media contribute to information and education of the community on issues of safety and quality in the health services, since this is an important avenue of such information and education for many members of the community.
Study Design: The authors undertook a qualitative study of a random sample of articles in the Australian print press between 1996 and 2004 where "golden staph" was presented as a major issue of risk to the safety of consumers of health services. The content of each article was examined with reference to several criteria including title, the source of the article, and the metaphorical language employed by the journalist.
Results: Results show that while the articles are substantially accurate as sources of information on concrete events, they do not serve as sources of education on issues of safety, typically apportioning blame and serving to maintain the status quo.
Conclusion: The authors conclude that print media are not a good source of community education in areas of safety and quality and do not assist members of the community to participate in addressing issues of safety in health services.

Date Created: 20050223 Date Completed: 20050811 Latest Revision: 20191210

20240628

10.1093/intqhc/mzi019

15723819