139 Assessment of Nurses’ Attitude and Perception on Patient Safety in a Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Patient safety issues have become a major concern in healthcare organizations that lead to undesired events and reduce patients’ quality of life (QoL). Around 10% of patients affected by serious medical errors during treatment, among these 14% result in death and 70% in disability. Nurse-led services are paramount in the treatment and have vital role in minimizing patient safety issues. Hence, a study was aimed to analyse the nurses’ attitude and perception on patient safety and, to determine the potential predictors for patient safety outcome dimensions. Method A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a 900 bed teaching hospital. Random sampling technique was adopted to select nurses with more than 6 months of working experience in the hospital. Hospital Survey On Patient Safety (HSOPS) tool was used in this study, it had 42 items with 12 dimensions. Results Out of 390 questionnaires distributed, 360 were returned with complete details and the response rate was 92%. Among the safety culture dimensions, only two items scored more than 75% of positive response rate (PRR) which were ‘Organizational learning-continuous improvement’ (PRR 84%) and ‘Teamwork within unit’ (PRR 80%). The ‘Communication openness’ and ‘Hospital handoffs and transition’ scored a very low PRR which were 43% and 37% respectively, as most of the nurses felt that sharing information or issues with colleagues may be held against them. Reporting of errors were very low in the current set-up as most of the nurses reported 1-2 adverse events in a year which was noted as highest among all specialties. Conclusion The current level of patient safety in this teaching hospital need an immediate attention as most of the patient safety domains scored a very low PRR. Safety measures need to be taken before the issues reaches worst situation and adverse impact on patients’ health related QoL.