Abstract
BackgroundEmergency Medical Services (EMS) is, by its nature, a challenging context that may create risks for both patients and employees. It is also known that an organisation’s safety culture has an influence on both patient and employee safety. Finnish EMS organisations lack knowledge of how their safety culture is perceived by their employees.AimThis study aims to test the psychometric properties of the Emergency Medical Services Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-SAQ) in a Finnish EMS setting. We also explore the connections between individual- and organisation-based characteristics and safety attitudes in the Finnish EMS.MethodsA cross-sectional survey study design was used. The EMS-SAQ was used to collect data via social media. The instrument measures six domains of workplace safety culture: safety climate, teamwork climate, perceptions of management, job satisfaction, working conditions and stress recognition. The 5-point Likert scale was converted to a 100-point scale and mean ≥ 75 was dichotomized as a positive. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out to validate the EMS-SAQ in a Finnish setting. Other results were analysed by using non-parametric tests.Results327 responses were included in the analysis. CFA showed that the total EMS-SAQ model had acceptable goodness-of-fit values in the Finnish EMS setting. Total mean scores for each safety culture domain were identified non-positively (mean score < 75); safety climate 60.12, teamwork climate 60.92, perceptions of management 56.31, stress recognition 64.55, working conditions 53.43 and job satisfaction 70.36. Higher education was connected to lower job satisfaction and the teamwork climate within the individual characteristics. All organisation-based characteristics caused at least one significant variation in the safety culture domain scores. Working area significantly affected (p < 0.05) five out of the six safety culture domain scores.ConclusionsThe EMS-SAQ is a valid tool to evaluate safety culture among the Finnish EMS organisations; it offers a novel method to evaluate safety and patient safety within the Finnish EMS organisations. According to the findings, the organisation-based characteristics more likely had an impact on safety attitudes than did the individual-based characteristics. Therefore, it is suggested that the Finnish EMS organisations undertake safety culture development at the organisational level.
Highlights
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is, by its nature, a challenging context that may create risks for both patients and employees
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the total Emergency Medical Services Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-Safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ)) model had acceptable goodness-of-fit values in the Finnish EMS setting
It is suggested that the Finnish EMS organisations undertake safety culture development at the organisational level
Summary
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is, by its nature, a challenging context that may create risks for both patients and employees. It is known that an organisation’s safety culture has an influence on both patient and employee safety. Finnish EMS organisations lack knowledge of how their safety culture is perceived by their employees. An EMS organisation is considered to be safety–critical even though not all tasks contain an immediate risk for the professionals or the patients; it is important to explore the EMS safety culture. Regardless of the WHO definition, the terms safety culture and safety climate have usually been used synonymously; researchers have even discussed the terms’ differences and similarities. The safety climate is measurable on several different levels, for example, the individual, team, unit, organisation and environment levels [4, 5]. Despite the differences between those two terms, we use the term safety culture for clarity in this study and include safety climate in safety culture
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
