Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Dec 2019)
Assessing Building Blocks for Patient Safety Culture—a Quantitative Assessment of Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Zeid Alrowely,1 Omar Ghazi Baker2 1Health Investment Development Administration, Directorate of Health Affairs, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia; 2College of Nursing, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Zeid AlrowelyHealth Investment Development Administration, Directorate of Health Affairs, Aljouf, Saudi ArabiaTel +966 50 339 9488Email [email protected]: The study analyzes staffs’ perception of a safety culture and their knowledge of safety measures in the hospitals of Saudi Arabia.Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by considering six different public hospitals from Arar city, and by recruiting 503 nurses. Building blocks of patient safety culture were measured through survey questions.Results: The highest positive rating (81%) was received by both “people support one another in this unit” and “in this unit, people treat each other with respect.” Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting patient safety was rated neutrally (n = 283; 56%) with an average mean score of 3.17±0.50, which suggested a neutral response by participants. Organizational learning, along with continuous improvement, was positively rated (n = 406; 81%) with an average mean score of 3.93±0.61.Conclusion: It demonstrated that participant nurses neither disagree nor agree on the level of patient safety culture prevailing in their hospital setting.Keywords: nurses, safety management, perception, environment
