Hospital Patient Safety Culture in Developing Countries: A Comparative Study in Ilam City, Iran

Aims: In this study, patient safety culture was assessed in four educational hospitals in Ilam city, Iran.

Study Design and Setting: A cross-sectional study was carried out in four educational hospitals (Imam Khomeini, Mustafa Khomeini, Taleghani and Kowsar hospitals) in Ilam city (Iran).

Study Duration: The study was conducted over 2014.

Methods: The data collection was conducted via the Iranian version of Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) questionnaire. The questionnaire contains 42 items that evaluates 12 dimensions of patient safety culture.

Results: The results showed that 47% of the participants had 1- 5 years of work experience and 71.1% of them worked more than 40 hours per week in hospital. The mean positive answers score of the safety culture in this study was obtained 40% that was much lower than the benchmark (64%). The highest and lowest percentages of the positive answer were attributed to teamwork within units (70%) and non-punitive response to error (11%), respectively.

Conclusion: In order to increase the patient safety culture in the hospitals, the number of professional staff should be increased and a practical plan about the patient safety culture should be provided. Moreover, the hospitals management should support the staff to report errors without fear of the punishment.