Patient Safety Environment: Perception of Health Care Professionals

Abstract

The patient safety environment has a major impact on the overall safety of health care. This study was carried out in order to learn more about the perception of health care professionals, with regard to their patient safety environment in hospital. The descriptive study, using a quantitative approach, was carried out between January and March 2015. Data was collected through the questionnaire Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-Short Form 2006, using a sample group of 623 professionals. The results obtained testify in favour of a positive safety environment. The categories of Perception of management and Working conditions presented a number of less positive responses, indicating that these are potential improvement areas for the development of the security environment in the organization. This study serves as a reference for the formulation of policies with a view towards optimizing patient safety, in addition to serving as a frame of reference for future benchmarking.

Safety Climate Evaluation in Primary Health Care: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This was the first study to evaluate the safety climate in PHC in Portugal. A score ≥75 indicates a strong safety environment [ 13 ], a cutoff value not accomplished in the present study, as the mean and median SAQ-Short Form 2006 PT total scores were 69.23 (SD = 15.73, range: 22.22–100.00) and 71.53 [59.03; 79.86], respectively.…”

“…“Not applicable” responses were considered missing [ 7 , 9 ]. A score of ≥75 indicates a strong safety environment, reflecting positive attitudes toward patient safety [ 13 ].…”

“…Safety and quality in health care are linked; identification of critical points that require intervention, once flagged, allows for the development and implementation of improvement strategies [ 13 ].…”