PERCEPTIONS OF PATIENT SAFETY CULTURE AMONG HEALTHCARE EMPLOYEES IN QASSIM REGION, SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

Purpose: The study explores the perceptions of patient safety culture among employees in healthcare hospitals in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. The specific objectives was to determine the role of teamwork in promoting patient safety culture, to explore the role of supervision in promoting patient safety culture, to establish perception towards patient safety among healthcare workers, and to determine the patient safety management system in Qassim region hospitals.

Methodology: The researchers applied a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design which allowed collecting and analyzing data from the study respondents. The sample size included 375 people who were selected through convenient random sampling. The sample population of the study was healthcare workers in Qassim. Data collection was conducted using online questionnaires. Statistical treatment was conducted using SPSS software version 20.0 and data was analyzed in form of percentage, mean, standard deviation and frequency. Presentation of data was done through pie charts, bar graphs, tables and column graphs.

Findings: Over 61% of the respondents stated they worked as a team to get work done. Additionally, 62% reported that they were actively doing things to improve patient safety. About 36.5% of respondents felt like their mistakes are held against them while 38.1% stated that it was just by chance that more serious mistakes don’t happen in hospital. Over 53% stated that they work in “crisis mode” trying to do too much, too quickly although 52.6% argued that patient safety is never sacrificed to get more work done. Besides, 52.6% of respondents worried that their mistakes were kept in their personal life while 42.2% stated that they had patient safety problems in their workplace. Notably, 48.7% reported that hospital management seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens. Besides, majority participants (58%) reported that their procedures and systems are good at preventing errors from happening and 62% of supervisors were found to say a good word when a job is well-done according to established patient safety procedures. Approximately 63.7% of respondents reported that the overall grade of patient safety was 63.7%.

Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study will contribute to new knowledge on patient safety, healthcare culture role in prevention of adverse events in hospital, safety culture related models and concepts. The hospitals should ensure that the staffs promote teamwork spirit by ensuring that teamwork environment is used to advance patient safety.