Assessment of Patient Safety Culture in Hospitals Affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2020

Improving patient safety is one of the main goals of health systems and employees need to be continuously examined for patient safety culture. The aim of this study was to assess patient safety culture in hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 2020.

A descriptive-analytical study was performed in 370 employees working in public, private, and social security hospitals. The sample size was calculated using the Cochranchr('39')s formula and the subjects were selected using simple random sampling. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) consisting of 42 questions and 12 dimensions was administered. Data analysis was done applying independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance.

Among the participants, 43.47% aged 40-50 years old, 42.74% had 1-10 years of work experience, and 60.07% had shift works. The dimensions of HSOPSC with highest and lowest scores were organizational learning and continuous improvement (4.00±0.89) and hospital delivery (2.51±0.97), respectively. Almost half of participants (51.36%) had no record of any incident in the past 12 months.

Patient safety culture was moderate in hospitals studied. Hospitals are recommended to focus more on patient safety by holding training courses for transfer of patients, and establish a reporting system and encourage staff to report errors.