Perception of Patient Safety Among Nurses at Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: All healthcare professionals are susceptible to commit adverse events. Nurses are the key to safety improvements in many aspects. Aim of this study was to investigate perception of patient safety among nurses at Shebin ElKom Teaching Hospital. The Design of this study was descriptive research design. A convenient sample of 114 nurses was selected to carry out this study. Setting of this study was Shebin ElKom Teaching Hospital. Tool of this study was Nurse Questionnaire [1]. Results showed that there was significant difference in the nurses' perception of work environment (80.16± 15.8; P< 0.000). The majority of nurses (57.9%) perceived low patient safety. The majority of nurses (63.2, 52.6, 57.9, 57.9 & 52.6) perceived never occurrence of adverse events. The majority of nurses did not formally report adverse events. Conclusion: nurses perceive negative work environment, job dissatisfaction, low patient safety and underreporting trend of the adverse events. Recommendation: Strategies for improvement should include non-punitive adverse event reporting system, develop patient safety policy and set clear guidelines for improving the work environment dimensions.