Assessment of patient safety culture during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in a tertiary a-level hospital in China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hsuan Huang ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Hsin-Hung Wu ◽  
Lee Yii-Ching

PurposeThe aims of this study are to (1) evaluate physicians and nurses' perspectives on patient safety culture amid the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) integrate the emotional exhaustion of physicians and nurses into an evaluation of patient safety culture to provide insights into appropriate implications for medical care.Design/methodology/approachPatient safety culture was assessed with the Chinese version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to validate the structure of the data (i.e. reliability and validity), and Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to identify relationships between safety-related dimensions.FindingsSafety climate was strongly associated with working conditions and teamwork climate. In addition, working conditions was highly correlated with perceptions of management and job satisfaction, respectively. It is worth noting that the stress and emotional exhaustion of the physicians and nurses during this epidemic were high and needed attention.Practical implicationsFor healthcare managers and practitioners, team-building activities, power of public opinions, IoT-focused service, and Employee Assistance Programs are important implications for inspiring the patient safety-oriented culture during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis paper considers the role of emotional state into patient safety instrument, a much less understood but equally important dimension in the field of patient safety.

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e025607
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Wang ◽  
Hui Han ◽  
Liqian Qiu ◽  
Chaojie Liu ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
...  

ObjectiveThis study aimed to develop a patient safety culture (PSC) scale for maternal and child healthcare (MCH) institutions in China.MethodsA theoretical framework of PSC for MCH institutions was proposed through in-depth interviews with MCH workers and patients and Delphi expert consultations. The reliability and validity of the PSC scale were tested in a cross-sectional survey of 1256 MCH workers from 14 MCH institutions in Zhejiang province of China. The study sample was randomly split into half for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, respectively. Test–retest reliability was assessed through a repeated survey of 63 voluntary participants 2 weeks apart.ResultsThe exploratory factor analysis extracted 10 components: patient engagement in patient safety (six items), managerial response to patient safety risks (four items), perceived management support (five items), staff empowerment (four items), staffing and workloads (four items), reporting of adverse events (three items), defensive medical practice (three items), work commitment (three items), training (two items) and transfer and handoff (three items). A good model fit was found in the confirmatory factor analysis: χ2/df=1.822, standardised root mean residual=0.048, root mean square error of approximation=0.038, comparative fit index=0.921, Tucker-Lewis index=0.907. The PSC scale had a Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.89 (0.59–0.90 for dimensional scales) and a test–retest reliability of 0.81 (0.63–0.87 for dimensional reliability), respectively. The intracluster correlation coefficients confirmed a hierarchical nature of the data: individual health workers nested within MCH institutions.ConclusionThe PSC scale for MCH institutions has acceptable reliability and validity. Further studies are needed to establish benchmarking in a national representative sample through a multilevel modelling approach.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zalika Klemenc-Ketiš ◽  
Ellen Tveter Deilkås ◽  
Dag Hofoss ◽  
Gunnar Tschudi Bondevik

Abstract Introduction Patient safety culture is a concept which describes how leader and staff interaction, attitudes, routines and practices protect patients from adverse events in healthcare. We aimed to investigate patient safety culture in Slovenian out-of-hours health care (OOHC) clinics, and determine the possible factors that might be associated with it. Methods This was a cross-sectional study, which took place in Slovenian OOHC, as part of the international study entitled Patient Safety Culture in European Out-of-Hours Services (SAFE-EUR-OOH). All the OOHC clinics in Slovenia (N=60) were invited to participate, and 37 agreed to do so; 438 employees from these clinics were invited to participate. We used the Slovenian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire – an ambulatory version (SAQAV) to measure the climate of safety. Results Out of 438 invited participants, 250 answered the questionnaire (57.1% response rate). The mean overall score ± standard deviation of the SAQ was 56.6±16.0 points, of Perceptions of Management 53.6±19.6 points, of Job Satisfaction 48.5±18.3 points, of Safety Climate 59.1±22.1 points, of Teamwork Climate 72.7±16.6, and of Communication 51.5±23.4 points. Employees working in the Ravne na Koroškem region, employees with variable work shifts, and those with full-time jobs scored significantly higher on the SAQ-AV. Conclusion The safety culture in Slovenian OOHC clinics needs improvement. The variations in the safety culture factor scores in Slovenian OOHC clinics point to the need to eliminate variations and improve working conditions in Slovenian OOHC clinics.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 826-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yii-Ching Lee ◽  
Hsin-Hung Wu ◽  
Wan-Lin Hsieh ◽  
Shao-Jen Weng ◽  
Liang-Po Hsieh ◽  
...  

Purpose – The Sexton et al.’s (2006) safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) has been widely used to assess staff’s attitudes towards patient safety in healthcare organizations. However, to date there have been few studies that discuss the perceptions of patient safety both from hospital staff and upper management. The purpose of this paper is to improve and to develop better strategies regarding patient safety in healthcare organizations. Design/methodology/approach – The Chinese version of SAQ based on the Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation is used to evaluate the perceptions of hospital staff. The current study then lies in applying importance-performance analysis technique to identify the major strengths and weaknesses of the safety culture. Findings – The results show that teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition and working conditions are major strengths and should be maintained in order to provide a better patient safety culture. On the contrary, perceptions of management and hospital handoffs and transitions are important weaknesses and should be improved immediately. Research limitations/implications – The research is restricted in generalizability. The assessment of hospital staff in patient safety culture is physicians and registered nurses. It would be interesting to further evaluate other staff’s (e.g. technicians, pharmacists and others) opinions regarding patient safety culture in the hospital. Originality/value – Few studies have clearly evaluated the perceptions of healthcare organization management regarding patient safety culture. Healthcare managers enable to take more effective actions to improve the level of patient safety by investigating key characteristics (either strengths or weaknesses) that healthcare organizations should focus on.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Marina Mazzuco de Souza ◽  
Juliana Dal Ongaro ◽  
Taís Carpes Lanes ◽  
Rafaela Andolhe ◽  
Adriane Cristina Bernat Kolankiewicz ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate thepatient safety culturein thePrimary Health Care (PHC). Method: A cross-sectional study with 349 health professionals and PHC managers from a city of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The tool used was Safety Attitudes Questionnaire Ambulatory Version. Data-independent double typing and descriptive and inferential statistical analysis were performed. Results: The total score varied between 3.4 and 8.4 with mean (7.0 ± 1.3), positive evaluation in the "Patient Safety" domain (8.2 ± 2.0). Working on the Family Health Strategy and having five to 12 years of work was significant for positive culture. The recommendations to improve the safety culture were: Implementation of protocols, training, communication improvement and resolvability. Conclusion: The patient safety culture prevailed. Establishing a constructive safety culture with safe behaviors represents factors for improving patient safety in Primary Care settings.


Author(s):  
Ni-Hu Tang ◽  
Shang-Feng Tsai ◽  
Jaw-Horng Liou ◽  
Yuan-Hui Lai ◽  
Shih-An Liu ◽  
...  

Promoting patient safety culture (PSC) is a critical issue for healthcare providers. Quality control circles program (QCCP) can be used as an effective tool to foster long-lasting improvements on the quality of medical institution. The effect of QCCP on PSC is still unknown. This was a retrospective study conducted with matching data. A safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) was used for the evaluation of PSC. The association between all scores of six subscales of SAQ and the participation QCCP were analyzed with both the Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests. A total of 2718 valid questionnaires were collected. Most participants of QCCP were females (78.9%), nurses (52.6%), non-supervisors (92.2%), aged <40 years old (64.8%), degree of specialist or university graduates (78%), and with work experience of <10 years (61.6%). Of all participants, the highest scores were in the dimension of safety climate (74.11 ± 17.91) and the lowest scores in the dimension of working conditions (68.90 ± 18.84). The participation of QCCP was associated with higher scores in four dimensions, namely: teamwork climate (p = 0.006), safety climate (p = 0.037), perception of management (p = 0.009), and working conditions (p = 0.015). The participation or not of QCCP had similar results in the dimension of job satisfaction and stress recognition. QCCP was associated with SAQ in subjects with the following characteristics: female, nurse, non-supervisor, aged >50 years old, higher education degrees and with longer working experiences in the hospital. In this first study on the association between each dimension of SAQ and the implementation of QCCP, we found that QCCP interventions were associated with better PSC. QCCP had no benefits in the dimensions of job satisfaction and stress recognition.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hsuan Huang ◽  
Chun-Ting Lai ◽  
Cheng-Feng Wu ◽  
Yii-Ching Lee ◽  
Chia-Hui Yu ◽  
...  

PurposeGender difference exists in the perception of the patient safety culture in healthcare organizations. A case from a medical center in Taiwan is presented to examine how different genders perceive the patient safety culture in practice from 2014 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal study using the data from 2014 to 2017 is conducted quantitatively. Mann–Whitney U test and one-way analysis of variance are employed for analyses.FindingsThe results showed that female nurses had significantly higher emotional exhaustion than male nurses in 2015 and 2016 indicating male nurses had better fatigue recovery than their female counterparts. In addition, male nurses felt a higher degree of fatigue in 2016 and 2017 than those in 2015 statistically. In contrast, female nurses felt more stressful in 2016 and 2017 than those in 2014 statistically. Female nurses had higher emotional exhaustion in 2016 and 2017 than those in 2014 and 2015 statistically.Practical implicationsTo sum up, female nurses were more stressful than before, and their recovery was also relatively poor particularly in 2016 and 2017. There is a need to reduce the degree of fatigue for female nurses in this medical center through employee assistance programs, mindfulness-based stress reduction programs, building up female nurses' positive currency and setting up their appreciative inquiry. In contrast to female nurses, male nurses recovered better from fatigue. This might encourage hospital management to deploy male nurses more effectively in this medical center.Originality/valueThe results enable the hospital management to know there is a gender difference in this case hospital. More attention on female nurses is required.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qasim AL Ma'mari ◽  
Loai Abu Sharour ◽  
Omar Al Omari

A study was conducted to explore whether fatigue, workload, burnout and the work environment can predict the perceptions of patient safety among critical care nurses in Oman. A cross-sectional predictive design was used. A sample of 270 critical care nurses from the two main hospitals in the country's capital participated, with a response rate of 90%. The negative correlation between fatigue and patient safety culture (r= -0.240) indicates that fatigue has a detrimental effect on nurses' perceptions of safety. There was also a significant relationship between work environment, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, personal accomplishment and organisational patient safety culture. Regression analysis showed that fatigue, work environment, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment were predictors for overall patient safety among critical care nurses (R2=0.322, F=6.117, P<0.0001). Working to correct these predictors and identifying other factors that affect the patient safety culture are important for improving and upgrading the patient safety culture in Omani hospitals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (06) ◽  
pp. 496-503
Author(s):  
Mabel Duarte Alves Gomides ◽  
Astrídia Marília de Souza Fontes ◽  
Amanda Oliveira Soares Monteiro Silveira ◽  
Geraldo Sadoyama

Introduction: Patient safety culture has been the reason for great concern for the scientific community due to the high number of failures resulting from the provision of health care. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception regarding the patient safety culture and their differences between categories, in the professional teams of the adult intensive care unit (ICU). Methodology: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, to evaluate the patient safety culture developed in the unit adult ICU of a public university hospital. Results: In this survey, 138 employees of the ICU participated, among them: physicians, psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, nurses, nursing technicians, and secretaries. There was a predominance of nursing technicians (76.8%) and work experience time from 5 to ≥ 21 years (62.3%). The overall mean of the safety culture in the ICU was 57.80, and the domains with the best average were stress perception (73.84) and satisfaction at work (72.38) and with the worst mean was the perception of hospital management (42.69). The perception of safety attitudes in the professional category of physicians presented a general average of 61.63, being strengthened to job satisfaction (77,89) and with a higher perception in relation to nurses. Conclusions: The overall ICU average for the patient safety culture was less than 75, which demonstrates a team with weakened safety attitude and, in addition, low perceptions of safety attitudes based on the results of management domains, working conditions and communication failures.


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