Health care staffs’ perception of patient safety culture in hospital settings and factors of importance for this

Abstract

Many hospital patients are affected by adverse events. Managers are important when improving safety. The perception of patient safety culture varies among health care staff. Health care staff (n = 1023) working in medical, surgical or mixed medical-surgical health care divisions answered the 51 items (14 dimensions) Swedish Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (S-HSOPSC). Respondents with a managerial func- tion scored higher than non-managers for 11 of 14 dimensions, indicating patient safety culture strengths for a majority of dimensions. Enrolled nurses and staff with experience > 10 years also scored high for several dimensions. The 12 dimensions and sample characteristics explained 49% and 26% of the vari- ance for the outcome dimensions Overall Perceptions of Safety and Frequency of Incident Reporting, re- spectively. RNs, ENs and physicians have different views on patient safety culture. Hospital Management Support and Organisational Learning is some im- portant factors influencing patient safety culture. Bridging the gap in health care staff’s perceptions of safety in order to improve patient safety is of utmost importance. Managers have the responsibility to fos- ter patient safety culture at their workplace and can thus benefit from results when improving safety for patients.