Direct and Indirect Employee Questionnaires for Assessing Patient Safety in Saudi Hospitals

Aim: This paper provides information on the reliability and validity of direct and indirect employee questionnaires developed in a study of patient safety that examines the impact of human engineering intervention on both direct and indirect employees. Method: This paper describes the employee questionnaires, which survey various elements of the work system (e.g., heavy workload, inexperience/lack education, staffing issues, fatigue, inadequate technology, distractions, lack of vigilance, lack of adherence to medical administration policies, time constraints, and patient safety climate), the care process, and employee outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, stress, perceived quality and safety of care provided). Data from a sample of 932 direct staff members and 99 indirect members were used to examine reliability, convergent validity, and predictive validity. Results: The two groups were different on three of the four groups of variables: measures of employee training and education, measures of reactions to medical errors occurred, and measures of participation to decision making related to medical errors. Managers had more positive perceptions of medical staff participation to decision making than medical staff believe. Medical staff was more satisfied with their job and reported significant fewer errors than manager staff claimed. Finally, managers felt that they offered significantly sufficient training programs to the medical staff than medical staff believed. Conclusion: The results provided evidence for the reliability and validity of the study's employee questionnaires