Abstract
BackgroundInternationally, patient safety is increasingly seen as a priority area, and improving patient safety highly depends on achieving a culture that supports and encourages health care staffs to report their errors or near misses without fear of punishment. In Ethiopia, however, patient safety culture is a relatively new focus, and little is known regarding the current status of patient safety culture in public hospitals. The purpose of the current study was thus, aimed to assess the views and perceptions of health care professionals about patient safety culture in public hospitals in Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study, utilizing the ‘Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC)’ questionnaire was carried out in 2016 in the Amhara region. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the 480 health care staffs, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other clinical and non-clinical staffs. Data were summarized as percentages, means, and standard deviations. ANOVA and chi-square tests were employed to examine statistical differences between health care worker’s characteristics and patient safety predictors. We also computed internal consistency coefficients, correlation analysis, and exploratory factor analysis.ResultsA total of 410 questionnaires were returned (response rate, 85.4%). The overall patient safety score (46%) and most of the scores related to dimensions were lower than the benchmark scores. The positive response rate of two dimensions (‘Teamwork within units’ and ‘Organizational learning–continuous improvement’) received the highest score (each 72%), and the lowest score was attributed to ‘Staffing’ (26%). Approximately, two thirds of staffs reported at least one event in the past 1 year. Nurses reported better in the overall patient safety score compared with other health care professionals (P = 0.03). The internal consistency of the total survey was fairly satisfied (Cronbach’s α = 0.77).ConclusionsThere is a severe deficit of patient safety culture in Ethiopian public hospitals. Creating a positive patient safety culture by implementing actions that support all dimensions of safety culture is inevitable. Further research is needed to confirm the applicability of the translated version of the HSOPSC in the Ethiopian hospital settings.
Highlights
Patient safety is increasingly seen as a priority area, and improving patient safety highly depends on achieving a culture that supports and encourages health care staffs to report their errors or near misses without fear of punishment
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) [9], patient safety culture is described as an understanding of the values, beliefs, and norms about what is important in an organization and what attitudes and behaviours related to patient safety are supported, rewarded, and expected
The present study investigated the current status of patient safety culture in Ethiopian public hospitals using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) instrument
Summary
Patient safety is increasingly seen as a priority area, and improving patient safety highly depends on achieving a culture that supports and encourages health care staffs to report their errors or near misses without fear of punishment. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) [9], patient safety culture is described as an understanding of the values, beliefs, and norms about what is important in an organization and what attitudes and behaviours related to patient safety are supported, rewarded, and expected. It is, important for health care organizations to assess their patient safety culture to obtain a clear understanding of the patient safety aspects requiring urgent attention, identify the strengths and weaknesses of their safety culture [10], and assist hospitals to identify their existing patient safety problems [11].
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