Assessment Of Patient Safety Culture Among Nurses In Saudi Hospitals

Unified Nursing Research, Midwifery & Women’s Health Journal
Author Name: Dr. Bader Alshdadi Alharbi
Category: Abstract
Keywords: Culture Safety, Nurse, Patient Safety
Research Interest: Quality Management and Culture Improvement

Unified Citation Journals, 2(1) 4-6; https://doi.org/10.52402/Nursing209
ISSN 2754-0944

Abstract

Introduction: Nurses play a vital role in providing care to patients and are essential to delivering safe, quality care. Nurses are often the primary caregivers and spend the most time with patients, so their actions and behaviors significantly impact patient safety. Additionally, nursing involves complex and high-risk tasks such as medication administration, which require a strong culture of safety to prevent errors and adverse events. The safety culture has been studied in Saudi Arabia at the hospital level. One study suggested that a positive safety culture encourages nurses to report errors which minimizes the risks and potential for blame [1]. Nonpunitive culture allows mistakes to be seen as opportunities for learning and where everyone is working together to prevent harm to patients. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the safety culture of Saudi nurses at the national level.

Methodology: The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSPSC) is a tool developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) [2] to evaluate the PSC [3]. The survey is distributed yearly by the Saudi Patient Safety Center, targeting all healthcare workers anonymously in Saudi hospitals [4]. HSPSC survey was used in 392 hospitals, from 4 different sectors (MOH, Gov non-MOH, Private), during the period from Jan-Mar 2022 (8 weeks)

Results: The total number of participants was 145657 and 47.23% of those were nurses. Nurse, Nurse Educator, Nurse Assistant, Nurse technician and midwife were considered in the study category “nursing”. Figure 1 shows that the areas of strength for nursing were Teamwork (77.43%), Organizational learning and continuous improvement (75.04%), and Handoffs and information exchange (68,90%). On the other hand, organizations need to take actions on areas of potential improvement for nurses, which were Staffing and work pace (40.71%), Response to error (51.81%), and Reporting patient safety events (53.81%). The nurses were the lowest compared with other staff positions regarding Response to error, and Staffing and work pace. Similarly, they were the least positive respondent among the Teamwork and Organizational learning.

Figure 1: Average positive culture safety responses- Staff positions

In addition, the survey contains two single-item measures that ask respondents on how many patient safety events they have reported and to provide an overall rating on patient safety for their unit/work area. Figure 2 shows nursing average percent positive response for these 2 measures compared to other staff categories.

Figure 2: Patient safety reported and overall patient safety rating.

Results: The total number of participants was 145657 and 47.23% of those were nurses. Nurse, Nurse Educator, Nurse Assistant, Nurse technician and midwife were considered in the study category “nursing”. Figure 1 shows that the areas of strength for nursing were Teamwork (77.43%), Organizational learning and continuous improvement (75.04%), and Handoffs and information exchange (68,90%). On the other hand, organizations need to take actions on areas of potential improvement for nurses, which were Staffing and work pace (40.71%), Response to error (51.81%), and Reporting patient safety events (53.81%). The nurses were the lowest compared with other staff positions regarding Response to error, and Staffing and work pace. Similarly, they were the least positive respondent among the Teamwork and Organizational learning.

References
[1] Alrasheadi BA, et al. Nurses’ Perception of Safety Culture in Medical-Surgical Units in Hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Jul 4;58(7):897.
[2] Sorra J, et al. AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: User’s Guide. Rockville: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 2018.
[3] Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Accessed 21 Aug 2022.
[4] SPSC. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture National Project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Accessed 23 Aug 2022

Biography: Dr. Bader Alshdadi Alharbi is the Head of culture improvement at the Saudi Patient Safety Center. He is an attending Emergency Medicine physician. His interests are in the field of organizational culture improvement and Just Culture

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• 12th International Nursing, Healthcare and Patient Safety Conference from July 25-27, 2023 in Holiday Inn Dubai, Al Barsha, Dubai, UAE.
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