Acquaintance of Kerman Hospitals’ Staff about Patient Safety Culture

Background: Hospitals are one of the most important health care institutions that should provide a safe environment for their patients. This study was conducted on hospital staff in Kerman to evaluate their culture in regard to patient safety. Methods: In this cross - sectional study, data were collected from 439 hospital staff affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences through using “Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture” (HSOPSC) questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS16 software and using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and analytical (t-test and ANOVA) statistics at a significance level of P< 0.05. Results: The dimension of "Management support for patient safety”, with an average positive response of 72.20% received the highest and the dimension of "Non punitive response to error" with an average positive response of 56.30% received the lowest scores. Subjects aged over 35 had a better overall understanding of patient safety than those younger than 35 years. The overall perception of patient safety showed no significant difference between men and women who participated in the study. Conclusion: Attention to patient safety culture by health care providers, especially managers is essential, but has not been enough. Therefore, it is recommended to implement rewarding systems and to hold comprehensive educational programs about patient safety culture for hospital staff in order to improve the quality of health care services. Keywords: Patient safety culture, Health care providers, Hospita