Perception on the culture of patient safety among professionals in an Argentinian health institution

Abstract

Introduction: Safety culture in health institutions is an issue which has been gaining greater importance in many developed countries, as well as in some Latin American countries, however, in Argentina, the studies on patient safety culture are still lacking. The objective of this study was to determine the perception of patient safety culture among health professionals in the Cordoba Private Hospital in 2015.

Methodology: In order to obtain the related information, the Spanish version of the instrument Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, adapted by a group of researchers on quality management from the University of Murcia, was applied on a 203 sample health professionals performing roles within the intern services area (clinical and assisting) in the Cordoba Private Hospital. The analysis included descriptive statistics with frequencies of the categorical variables.

Results: The areas of strength corresponded to organizational learning/continuous improvement and teamwork in the unit and service; while the only dimension identified as a weakness was that on personnel allotment.

Conclusion: This study allowed the identification of areas which need to be improved, in relation to the patient safety culture; in this sense, a perception was that there are not enough health professionals to address excessive workloads, a situation which interferes against the optimal attention of patients.