Organizational indicator of safety culture in a university hospital

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the organizational safety culture of a Portuguese university hospital on the basis of nurses’ perceptions. Method: this cross-sectional, survey-type study of 567 nurses at a university hospital in Porto, Portugal, was conducted from April to December 2014, using the Survey on Patient Safety Culture instrument. For the analysis, the Likert Scale was recoded, and descriptive statistics were used. Results: the dimensions that returned high percentage positive responses were: Teamwork within units (78.69%) and Supervisor Expectations and Actions Promoting Patient Safety (65.94%). It was found that 248 (44.4%) of personnel did not report any event, and only 13 (2.3%) had reported more than six events in the prior year. Conclusion: the assessment identified one strong dimension in the organization, and some weaknesses. The results are significant and offer a foundation for nursing managers and leaders to improve safety culture.