Patient Safety Culture as Viewed by Medical and Diagnostic Staff of Selected Tehran Hospitals, Iran

Abstract

Background: Today, patient safety is an important issue in providing hospital services. Any failure in this area can cause undesirable consequences. Objective: The present study evaluated the status of patient safety culture in educational hospitals of Tehran, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed 205 therapeutic and diagnostic personnel of three Tehran hospitals selected using the clustered method; samples were collected in a randomized manner. To examine patient safety culture, the standard questionnaire of patient safety culture with 12 dimensions was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Results: In the 12 dimensions of patient safety culture, exchange of data, expectations, and organization management had the lowest means of 3.28 (±0.87), and 3.32 (±0.74) among the various aspects of patient safety culture. Additionally, the 2 dimensions of teamwork within the organization’s units and frequency of reporting events with means of 3.71 (±0.79) and 3.73 (±0.7) had the highest means among the studied 12 dimensions of patient safety culture. The total mean of patient safety culture in the studied hospitals was 3.5 (±0.5). Conclusion: Increasing the attention paid to patient safety culture will lead to the development and progress of hospitals in the country and will guide them toward becoming patient-friendly hospitals. Those dimensions which had low mean values in this study should be paid more attention so as to promote and protect them.