Patient safety culture is a vital component in ensuring high quality and safe patient care. Assessment of staff perception on existing hospital patient safety culture (PSC) is the first step to promote PSC. This paper is aimed to assess the patient safety culture in 1 big public autonomous general hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. This cross-sectional study surveyed 638 healthcare professional utilizing the validated (Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture [HSOPSC]) in an online format. This study adhered to STROBE guidelines. The positive response rate was high, with a percentage of 74.2. The strongest areas are teamwork within units (91.3%) and organizational learning/continuous improvement (88.4%). The areas for improvement are staffing (49.4%) and non-punitive response to error (53.1%). Hospital administrators should strengthen the culture of patient safety by formulating strategies and implementing interventions with emphasis on adequate staffing and promoting blame-free working environment.

Introduction Patient safety culture (PSC) is a vital component in ensuring high-quality and safe patient care. Assessment of physicians’ and nurses’ perceptions of existing hospital PSC is the first step to promoting PSC. This paper is aimed to assess physicians’ and nurses’ perceptions of PSC in 5 public general hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam. Methods This cross-sectional study surveyed 410 physicians and 824 nurses utilizing the validated Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture in an online format. Results The composite positive physician’s perception of PSC varied from 47.8 to 89.6% with the lowest composite score of patient safety for “staffing” (47.8%) and the highest composite score for “teamwork within units” (89.6%). The composite positive responses for perception among nurses varied from 51.3 to 94.2% with the lowest composite score of patient safety for “staffing” (51.3%) and the highest composite score for “teamwork within units” (94.2%). Conclusion The mean scores for “supervisor/manager expectations”; “staffing”, “management support for patient safety”, “teamwork across units”, “handoffs and transitions” among nurses were significantly higher than that among physicians (p<0.05). About two-thirds of physicians and nurses reported no event in the past 12 months (62.8 and 71.7%, respectively). The nurses reported significantly higher patient grades (every good and excellent) than physicians (75% vs 67.1%, p <0.001). Hospitals could develop and implement intervention programs to improve patient safety, including providing interventions on teamwork and communication, encouraging staff to notify incidents, and avoiding punitive responses.