Measuring safety culture among dispensing pharmacists and the effect of an educational intervention: Experience from a state sector teaching hospital of a resource limited country

Abstract

Background: It is essential to ensure that medication dispensing; a vital step in the treatment process takes place in an environment with a strong safety culture. The objectives of this study were to measure the safety culture and to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention to improve safety culture, as perceived by dispensing pharmacists of a state sector teaching hospital of a resource limited country.Methods: An interviewer administered questionnaire, developed in-house based on published literature, was initially administered to all dispensing pharmacists of the study hospital. Two weeks later, participants attended an educational workshop on safety culture. The same questionnaire was administered one month after the workshop to assess the six domains of safety culture. The mean composite scores (MCSs) and average positive response rate (PRR) of each domain were compared before and after the intervention (5% significance level).Results: Except for the domains of environment factors and documentation, other domains (human factor, communication, supervision along with reactions and responses to mistakes) obtained a PRR of more than 50%. A statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between the MCSs or PRRs of any domain was not observed after the intervention. However, results indicated an improvement in the knowledge of safety culture among pharmacists as the total number of “don’t know” responses reduced (p=0.019) after the intervention.Conclusion: The present study implies that factors such as documentation and working environment needs to be improved to establish a sound safety culture. Additionally, educational interventions alone may have a limited effect in enhancing a safety culture in the dispensing process.