Factors Shaping Patient Safety Management in the Middle East Hospitals from Nursing Perspective: A Focus Group Study

Middle East hospitals make all the efforts to manage patient safety in an effective and efficient manner. When the culture of blame and other factors exist, patient safety management efforts and the adaptability of the system can be affected. This manuscript embraced a qualitative exploration of Factors Shaping Patient Safety Management in the Middle East Hospitals from Nursing Perspective. A semi-structured interview for 3 focus groups followed by a content analysis for the responses was applied. Data was collected in May, 2012. The study was held in a purposefully selected hospital affiliated to Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.The participants were purposefullyselected nurses (n=23). The inclusion criteria were: have a previous work experience in Middle Eastern countries; working in the current hospital setting for not less than a year; have participation in patient safety management practices and can speak English.The main results were that nurses’ perspectives for factors shaping patient safety Management system were nursing leadership, patient expectations of safety, nurses’ working hours, nurses’ workloads, a culture of blame and a safety culture.The findings concluded that patient safety management efforts in the Middle East hospitals are still in infancy stage. The culture of blame places the responsibility for patient safety upon nursing leaders’ inefficiency; imposing heavy workloads along with unreasonable working hours correlated by patients’ expectations of safety and it should be replaced with a healthy non-blame culture to support all safety management efforts. Middle East hospitals should consider adapting a patient safety model strategy and a patient safety management protocol insidious of an appropriate patient safety culture relevant to those countries.