Patient Safety Culture Assessment of Clinical and Paraclinical Staff Perspective in Selected University of Medical Sciences Hospitals in Tehran

To establish patient safety culture, first the current status of it should be assessed. The aim of this study was to measure personnel perceptions of patient safety culture in selected University of Medical Sciences hospitals in Tehran city. In this descriptive cross-sectional study four educational hospitals which are under supervision of University of Medical Sciences in Tehran city were selected. The sample consisted of 600 clinical and Para clinical personnel that were asked to complete the Farsi version of Hospital Survey )HSOPSC( on Patient Safety Culture. The data was analyzed using t-test for two independent samples. The results showed that the highest score on two dimensions of patient safety culture included teamwork within units (62%), and frequency of event reporting (62%). While the overall understanding of patient safety (56%) and the non-responsive response to errors (58%) had the lowest score among different dimensions of the patient’s safety culture. Score two dimensions of non-punishment response to errors and overall understanding of patient safety in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences hospitals were significantly higher than Tehran University of Medical Sciences Hospital. Improving patient safety culture should be a priority among hospital administrators. Healthcare staff should be encouraged to report errors without fear of punitive action. It needs strong support from senior managers of the organization.