SAFETY CULTURE AMONG HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN A TEACHING HOSPITAL

Abstract

Objective: assess the safety culture among health professionals of a teaching hospital. Method: Cross-sectional survey-type study with 645 professionals of a teaching hospital of the State of Paraná, from October 2014 to July 2015, through the use of a self-administered instrument of the Agency for Health care Research and Quality. Quantitative variables were represented in percentage values: the safety culture was considered satisfactory if ≥75% of the responses were positive; neutral, if 74 to 51% of the responses were positive, and fragile, if ≤50% of the responses were positive. Reliability was measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Results: the highest value was obtained for dimension “Expectations about your supervisor/boss and safety-promoting actions”, with 70.8% (n=455) of positive responses and “Non punitive responses to error” obtained the lowest value, with 25.6% (n=164). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient obtained an average of 0.62, showing low reliability Conclusion: The results reveal an unsatisfactory safety culture and stress the importance of actions targeted to the promotion of a safety culture, with emphasis to a collective and non-punitive approach to errors.

Keywords

• Organizational culture
• Health personnel
• Patient safety
• Quality management
• Indicators of healthcare quality