54 Patient Safety Culture at a Teaching Hospital in Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

Introduction: Patient safety, such as inpatient falls, is a global problem, accounting for increasing compensation costs from our healthcare facilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient safety culture among healthcare providers. Method: An online survey was developed within the hospital staff portal at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, with a dialogue box appearing on the launching of the portal website inviting the members of staff to participate in the survey. The survey contained a safety assessment questionnaire (SAQ) which measures the patient safety culture. The SAQ consists of 36 items measuring the six domains: teamwork climate, job satisfaction, safety climate, stress recognition, working conditions, and perception of management. Each domain is assigned a percentage score, and comparisons of scores according to healthcare disciplines were then made. Results: 5275 (80%) responded to the online SAQ which was sent out to all 6562 healthcare professionals employed, by the hospital. The teamwork and safety climate was poor among supporting staff, with scores of 56.7 and 59.8 respectively. Job satisfaction (62.9), perception of ward management (56.8), and hospital management (53.2), and working conditions (44.7) were less among the clinicians. Stress recognition (36.5) was in alarmingly low among the nurses. Conclusion: A comprehensive unit-based safety programme will be conducted in response to the SAQfindings, and should incorporate objective falls the outcome in order to convince the hospital hierarchy of the need for urgent solutions to lower the rates of inpatient falls.