Awareness and attitude about patient safety among health professionals in Arar, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to assess awareness and culture of health care workers about patient safety in healthcare facilities in Arar city. Material and Method: It is a structured questionnaire-based cross-section study. Four hundred and fifty questionnaire copies were randomly distributed to evaluate participants' knowledge and awareness about patient safety. Results: Three hundred and eleven participants were enrolled in the study (69.1% response rate). Females represented 62.7% of the responders. Physicians were 46% of the participants. Data showed overall summative scores of awareness of 77.27 %. There was a significant difference among participants according to their past experience of errors, years of work experience and medical specialties in their awareness scores (p= 0.0042, 0.0014 and 0.0076 respectively). Regarding culture data, the total composite positive perception of patient safety culture was about 59.04 ± 3.3%. The dimensions of "teamwork within the unit" showed the highest positive composites (83.1%). Discussion: More focused programs should be implemented with better training for all staff member, especially for nurses to improve their awareness and culture regarding patient safety.