Survey of the Patient Safety Culture in the Clinics and Hospitals of Chabahar, Iran

Abstract

<strong>Introduction:</strong> Patient safety is a basic principle of health care, and the purpose of the patient safety culture is to provide safe conditions for the care of patients. The present study aimed to evaluate the patient safety culture in the clinics and hospitals of Chabahar, Iran. <strong>Materials and Methods:</strong> This cross-sectional study was conducted on three groups of physicians, nurses, and paraclinical staff in 2017. Data were collected by using the hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPS). Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21 using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Tukey's post-hoc test. <strong>Results:</strong>In total, 255.85 subjects were enrolled in the study and equally divided into three groups (33.3%). The minimum and maximum work experience was one and 27 years, respectively. Among the participants, 116 cases (45.49%) were female, and 139 cases (54.50%) were male. Mean total score of the patient safety culture was 149.87±25.20. The lowest and highest scores were observed in the dimensions of ‘non-punitive response to errors' (3.23±9.11) and ‘teamwork within units' (3.86±15.41), respectively. The results indicated a significant difference between the three study groups in terms of the patient safety culture (P<0.001). However, mean score of the general perception of the safety culture had no significant difference between the physicians and nurses (P=0.064). <strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings of the present study could help justify the establishment of a positive patient safety culture in the healthcare systems. In addition, recruitment of capable managers, who are committed to eliminating medical errors, is required for implementing the patient safety culture. Therefore, it is recommended that interventions in the field of the patient safety culture be planned and the association of patient safety and clinical outcomes be assessed in further investigations.