Measurement of Patient Safety Culture in Iranian hospitals: A National Baseline Study

Abstract

Purpose: Iran has initiated Patient Safety Friendly Initiatives (PSFHI) in 10 hospitals since 2010, and now aims to expand it to 50 more hospitals. The aim of this study was to systematically measure patient safety culture in Iranian hospitals as the first national baseline measure. Methods: A cross-sectional study, using Farsi version of the popular Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) was done in 11 public teaching general hospitals in three major province centers in Iran. About 1000 questionnaires were randomly distributed staff across four selected strata (physicians, nurses, laboratory and radiology staff). Finally, percent positive scores were calculated. Results: A total of 725 respondents had successfully completed the questionnaire (response rate: 75.44%). Overall patient safety culture percent positive scores was 47%. Teamwork within units and organizational learning -continuous improvement, got the highest scores, while non-punitive response to error and staffing had the lowest ratings. About 58% of study participants reported not completing any event reports during the previous 12 months and only 22.5% gave their hospitals an ‘excellent or very good’ patient safety grade. Conclusion: Study findings provided a good baseline data about the current status of patient safety culture in Iranian hospitals, their strengths and potentials for improvement in this field, as well as the status in each dimension of safety culture among other countries from different WHO regions.