Perception of nurses regarding patient safety culture in operating theatre, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

The purpose of this study was to determine perception of nurses regarding patient safety culture, examined the association between nurses' working experience and patient safety culture, and compared the differences of patient safety culture between scrub nurses and GA nurses in operating theatre, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). Fifty-three nurses were participated in this study. Nurses were recruited by using non-probability purposive sampling. Data were obtained using a self-administered questionnaire which adapted from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2004 ), the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The instrument was validated by two experts from operating theatre, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and one expert from School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.71. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic, Pearson Chi Square or Fisher Exact test, and Mann Whitney test. The results showed that the overall nurses' perception of patient safety culture were at the level need improvement. It included frequency of event reporting (mean = 3.30, SD = 1.02), patient safety grade (mean= 3.47, SD = 0.64), supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting safety (mean= 3.41, SD = 0.91), communication openness (mean= 3.29, SD = 0.84) and staffing (mean= 3.04, SD = 1.11). There were 3 out of 11 dimensions in positive perception. There included number of events reported (mean= 4.51, SD = 0.64), organizational learning-continuous improvement (mean= 4.09, SD = 0.54), and teamwork within hospital units (mean= 4.01, SD = 0.71). In addition, there were 2 dimensions that need to be strengthened. These were overall perceptions of safety (mean= 3.69, SD = 0.92), and feedback and communication about error (mean= 3.82, SD = 0.69). There was only one safety culture dimension that was in negative perception. This was nonpunitive response to error (mean = 2. 72, SD = 1.02). Moreover, there were significant associations between nurses' working experience in safety culture dimensions and frequency of event reporting (p = 0.021) and communication openness (p = 0.012). And there were no significant differences of patient safety culture between scrub nurses and GA nurses (p > 0.05). In summary, this study enables identifying dimensions in need of improvement. Interventions to change the safety culture in operating theatre, HUSM are warranted. Years of experiences among nurses had little impact on safety culture dimensions. Thus, both scrub and GA nurses showed congruence in perception of patient safety culture