Analysis of Patient Safety Indicators in Hospitals Affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences: Recommendations for Improving Patient Safety

There is now a global concern about significant numbers of patients who are harmed or faced financial problems.Therefor, interving in organized approach to provide safe services seems necessary. This study is aimed to assess the basic indicators of patient safety in hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Science. This descriptive–analytical study was conducted in the 5 selected hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The data were collected using patient safety assessment protocol published by WHO(WORLD HEALTH ORGNAZIATION) tool.The questionnaires were filled using variety of different ways such as: interview, observation and documents investigation. The data were analyzed using SPSS software and also with descriptive and analytical tests. The results showed total average of maintaining the standards was 51.1% which categorized as weak level based on the protocol. The highest and lowest rates of the domains studied were safe environment (68.8%) and continuing education (24.8%) respectively. Farabi and Rasul Akram hospitals had the best and the worst levels of maintaining indicators of patient safety standards. It is worth mentioning that the status of all the hospitals was in the same level. Statistical tests indicate that maintaining the standards does not differ significantly between participating hospitals. All participating hospitals has a poor performance through developing basic patient safety indicators. Managers` support and staff participation can be helpful to solve the mentioned issues. Paying attention to patient safety in managerial plans and putting equal value to various aspects of patient safety are pivotal.