A cross-sectional study to assess the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals: a baseline assessment for quality improvement

OBJECTIVES To measure and establish a baseline assessment of the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals. DESIGN A cross-sectional descriptive study using the Arabic version of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (Short Form 2006). PARTICIPANTS A total of 339 nurses and physicians returned the questionnaire out of 370 achieving a response rate of 91.6%. SETTING Four public general hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. METHODS Nurses and physicians were randomly selected using a proportionate random sampling. Data analysis performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 20, and p value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES Current status of patient safety culture among healthcare providers and percentage of positive attitudes. RESULTS Male to female ratio was 2.16:1, and mean age was 36.5 ± 9.4 years. The mean score of Arabic Safety Attitude Questionnaire across the six dimensions on 100-point scale ranged between 68.5 for Job Satisfaction and 48.5 for Working Condition. The percentage of respondents holding a positive attitude was 34.5% for Teamwork Climate, 28.4% for Safety Climate, 40.7% for Stress Recognition, 48.8% for Job Satisfaction, 11.3% for Working Conditions and 42.8% for Perception of Management. Healthcare workers holding positive attitudes had better collaboration with co-workers than those without positive attitudes. CONCLUSION Findings are useful to formulate a policy on patient safety culture and targeted a specific safety culture dimension to improve the safety of patients and improve the clinical outcomes within healthcare organisations.