Evaluation of Patients' Perception of Safety in an Italian Hospital Using the PMOS-30 Questionnaire.

Sara Schiavone,Angela Annecchiarico,Mario Massimo Mensorio,Francesco Attena,Danilo Lisi

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094515

Abstract

Background: In our study, an Italian version of the PMOS-30 questionnaire was used to evaluate its feasibility and to improve health care quality in an Italian hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 435 inpatients at a hospital in the Campania Region of Southern Italy using the PMOS-30 questionnaire and two other questions to assess patient feedback about the overall perception of safety. Results: The item “I was always treated with dignity and respect” showed the greatest percentage of agreement (agree/strongly agree = 89.2%; mean = 4.24). The least agreement was associated with the four “Staff Roles and Responsibilities” items (agree/strongly agree ranged from 31.5 to 40.0%; weighted mean = 2.84). All other 25 items had over 55.0% agreement, with 19 items over 70%. Moreover, 94.5% of the patients considered the safety of the ward sufficient/good/very good, and 92.8% did not notice situations that could cause harm to patients. Conclusion: Patient perception of safety was found to be satisfactory. The results were presented to the hospital decision makers for suggesting appropriate interventions. Our experience showed that the use of the PMOS-30 questionnaire may improve safety and health care quality in hospital settings through patient feedback.

Highlights

Patient safety is defined as the prevention of errors and adverse effects to patients associated with health care [1]
An epidemiological cross-sectional study was conducted in one general hospital in the Campania Region, Southern Italy, to assess patient feedback on safety using the Patient Measure of Safety (PMOS)-30 questionnaire
We assessed patient feedback on safety using an Italian version of the PMOS-30 questionnaire

Summary

Introduction

Patient safety is defined as the prevention of errors and adverse effects to patients associated with health care [1]. The importance of measuring patient safety in the health care setting has become widely recognized only in the past two decades. In 1984, Maxwell [3] identified the following dimensions of health care quality: access to service, relevance to need (for the whole community), effectiveness (for individual patients), equity (fairness), efficiency and economy, and social acceptability. This was followed by Donabedian’s widely cited 1990 paper [4] that outlined seven dimensions of quality: efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency, optimality, acceptability, legitimacy, and equity. Patient safety has become an important element of care quality, first evaluated by experts and health professionals and including patients’ feedback about their care [15,16,17]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion