Abstract:
Introduction
Adverse events pose a serious threat to quality patient care. Promoting a culture of safety is
essential for reducing adverse events. This study aims to assess healthcare providers’ perceptions
of patient safety culture in three selected hospitals in the Upper East region of
Ghana.
Methods
The English version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) questionnaire
was administered to 406 clinical staff. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)
software, version 23, was used to analyze the data. The results were presented using
descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation Analysis and One-way Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA).
Results
It was found that two out of twelve patient safety culture dimensions recorded high positive
response rates (� 70%). These include teamwork within units (81.5%) and organizational
learning (73.1%). Three patient safety culture dimensions (i.e. staffing, non-punitive
response to error and frequency of events reported) recorded low positive response rates
(� 50%). The overall perception of patient safety correlated significantly with all patient
safety culture dimensions, except staffing. There was no statistically significant difference in
the overall perception of patient safety among the three hospitals.
Conclusion
Generally, healthcare providers in this study perceived patient safety culture in their units as
quite good. Some of the respondents perceived punitive response to errors. Going forward,
healthcare policy-makers and managers should make patient safety culture a top priority.
The managers should consider creating a ‘blame-free’ environment to promote adverse
event reporting in the hospitals
