Nursing perceptions of patient safety climate in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

Aims This study was undertaken to assess the perception of nurses about patient safety culture and to test whether it is significantly affected by the nurses’ position, age, experience and working hours. Background Patient safety has sparked the interest of healthcare mangers, yet there is limited knowledge about the current patient safety culture among nurses in the Gaza Strip. Methods This was a descriptive cross‐sectional study, administering the Arabic Safety Attitude Questionnaire (Short Form 2006) to 210 nurses in four public general hospitals. Results Job Satisfaction was the most highly perceived factor affecting patient safety, followed by Perception of Management. Safety culture varied across nursing position, age, work experience and working hours. Nurse Managers had more positive attitudes towards patients than frontline clinicians did. The more experience nurses had, the better their attitudes