Evaluation of the Patient Safety Culture Status and its Related Factors From the Perspective of Operating Room Personnel

Abstract

Background: Patient safety is one of the principles of health care and evaluation of the patient safety culture motivates to provide safe conditions for patient care. Regarding the invasive procedures and the necessity of special attention to patient safety in the operating room, this study aimed to determine the patient safety culture from the perspective of operating room personnel. Methods: This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study sample consisted of 206 operating room personnel of Mazandaran educational hospitals who were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection was performed using the patient safety culture questionnaire and a demographic form. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation test, one-way ANOVA, independent t-test, and Chi-square test) in SPSS V. 20. The significance level was set at less than 0.05. Results: Most of the operating room personnel (72.3%) rated the patient safety culture as moderate. Among the dimensions of patient safety culture, “non-punitive response to error” was not favorable (7.4±2) and the dimensions of the “frequency of error reporting” (11.5±2.2), “overall perceptions of patient safety” (15.1±2.4), and “teamwork within units” (15.4±2.9) were rated as favorable. Among the studied variables, there was a significant relationship between occupational groups and safety culture (P=0.04). Conclusion: Patient safety culture status was moderate from the perspective of most operating room personnel. Considering the greater sensitivity of safety in the operating room, hospital managers should adopt suitable approaches and policies to promote the patient safety culture.

Keywords

• patient safety
• safety culture
• operating room