A study of assessment of patient safety climate in tertiary care hospitals

BackgroundMedical errors are being detected with increasing frequency in healthcare environment, in many cases leading to patient harm. Measurement and improvement of patient safety climate has been identified as a strategic effort towards addressing this vital issue.MethodSafety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), validated by previous research was administered to 300 respondents in three tertiary care hospitals of India, the respondents representing various categories of healthcare workers and variations in safety scale score was analyzed by various statistical tools.ResultsNo variation was observed in the Patient Safety Index score among the study hospitals. However, significant variations were observed among different categories of healthcare workers across dimensions of Teamwork, Perception of Management and Stress Recognition. Multiple Regression models identified Teamwork and Perception of Management to have significant correlation with Patient Safety Index Score.ConclusionPatient Safety Climate can be effectively assessed and such assessment utilized for focused improvement efforts towards safety in healthcare organizations.