A Comparative Assessment of Patient Safety Culture between Iranian Selected Hospitals and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Report

Mohammad Azmal¹, Habib Omranikho², Salime Goharinezhad³, Rohollah Kalhor⁴, Nayeb Fadaei Dehcheshmeh⁵, Fereshteh Farzianpour^6*

¹Department of Treatment Affairs, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
²Faculty of Public health, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
³Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁴Health Information Management Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
⁵Health Affairs Department, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁶Department of Health Management and Economics, Faculty of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/health.2014.621342                

Abstract

Establishing a culture of patient safety can be effective in reducing the incidence of medical errors and solving concerns of safety inadequacy in health systems. The purpose of this study was to assess the culture of patient safety in the selected hospitals, and compare the results with published reports of AHRQ. This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of BPUMS. The subjects signed the informed consent form to participle in the study. Confidentiality was maintained throughout the study reports. Cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012; the study sample was composed of 364 staffs working at two selected hospitals affiliated to Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was used to collect data. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze the data. No reports of events in both studied hospitals and benchmark were accounted for the most of the reported errors, although this indicator in studied hospitals was nearly 23% higher than that of the benchmark report. The highest patient safety grade in studied hospitals and benchmark was “acceptable” and “very good”, respectively. The highest percentage of positive response to patient safety dimension was organization learning and then teamwork within units in studied hospitals. Teamwork within units also was the highest average percent in benchmark report. Non-punitive response to errors had the lowest positive percentage of participant responses in both studies. To achieve the patient safety culture, we do not need to blame individual and apply punitive approach when errors occur. This makes person accept responsibility for their actions honestly and report errors in a timely manner to prevent reoccurrence of similar errors.

Keywords

Patient Safety Culture, Comparative Assessment, Hospital

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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