Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Patient safety is an important issue in regard to hospital servicesand any problem can cause adverse consequences. The purpose of this study was to assess the patients’safety culture at educational hospitals in Tehran.

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Material and Method: The present descriptive-cross sectional study was carried out among 312 health care workers in Baharloo, Amir Aalam, Shariati and Sina hospitals in Tehran, which were selected by cluster sampling. The participants were chosen randomly in each cluster. Safety Culture Survey questionnaire including 12 dimensions was used to assess patient safety culture. Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest coefficient were estimated 81 and 79 percent, respectively.

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Result: Nurses comprised 61 percent of participants in the study. 42% of staff had less than 5 years work experience. Of the 12 dimensions of patient safety culture, the frequency of reporting and exchange of information had the minimum average of 56 and 55, respectively. Moreover, the dimensions of organizational learning and expectations-management measuresobtained the highestmean score (69)among 12 dimensions of patient safety culture. Total mean patient safety culture in understudy hospitals was 63.

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Conclusion: It should be noted that paying more attention to the patient safety culture can lead to improve hospitals condition, as a whole, and to have a patient-friendly environment. Special attention should be paid to dimensions with the lowest mean score in order to strengthen them.