Relationship Between Nursing Communication Characteristics and Patient Safety Culture at Educational Hospitals in Sanandaj City

The current study investigated the relationship between nurseschr('39') communication features and patient safety culture in educational hospitals in Sanandaj city, Iran.

This correlational study was performed on 278 nurses working in educational hospitals in Sanandaj, Iran. The standard safety culture questionnaire made by Barton J.chr('39')s quality and health care research and communication skills agency was used. The standard questionnaire used was in two sections. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 19. In the descriptive statistics section, mean and standard deviation, and in the inferential statistics, correlation tests, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and linear regression were used.

The mean of total positive responses to 12 dimensions of patient safety culture was 59.11%. The negative response was 22.07% and the neutral responses were 17.94%. These results indicated an acceptable status of safety culture in the studied hospitals. The average of communication skills among nurses in Sanandaj was 66.98±9.57 (maximum score is 90). The inferential analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between variables such as age, work experience, marital status, educational level, and type of employment with two main variables (communication skills and patient safety culture). The results of linear regression showed that the components of communication skills (verbal, listening, and feedback) have a positive and significant effect on improving the patientchr('39')s safety culture. These components may explain 55.2% of the variation of the dependent variable (the patientchr('39')s safety culture).

Based on the results of the research, the status of the patient safety culture and communication skills was moderate. To improve the patientchr('39')s safety status, nurses’ communication skills should be improved. This is possible during the nurse’s formal education or in-service training.