Improvement of the Patient Safety Culture in the Primary Health Care Corporation – Qatar

Abstract

Objectives: Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) is the public primary health care provider in Qatar. Having a patient safety culture (PSC) is the keystone to enabling a continuous process to improve the quality of services and to reduce errors. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of accreditation, quality improvement trainings, and patient safety (PS) trainings on the improvement of the PSC at the PHCC in Qatar. Methods:The Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality was used in 2012 and 2015 to assess the culture of PS and health care quality in the 21 health centers. The results of the two surveys were compared using the χ 2 test. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Out of 2689 staff working in the 21 health centers, 1810 (67.3%) completed the survey in 2012, and 2616 (70.0%) of 3735 completed the survey in 2015. The comparison between 2012 and 2015 survey's results showed a statistically significant improvement for all the 10 dimensions (P < 0.05). Although a statistically significant difference was observed between 2012 and 2015 results for work pressure and pace, three of the four questions of the work pressure and pace dimension presented nonsignificant differences. Conclusions:The survey was a good tool to raise awareness on PS and quality issues at PHCC. There is evidence that the implementation of accreditation program, the quality improvement trainings, and PS trainings helped the organization improve its PS culture.

The safety culture of the Ljubljana community health centre’s employees

“…We used the validated Slovenian version of MOSOPS (15). MOSOPS enables the measurement of patient safety culture at the primary level of healthcare, the detection of possible differences, assistance in understanding the safety of a particular organization, and an evaluation of the impact of specific interventions for improving patient safety culture (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). The survey seeks the opinion of healthcare professionals about 38 items in 10 different dimensions (domains C, D, E and F).…”

Evaluation of patient safety culture in community pharmacies in Qatar

“…16 Locally in Qatar, studies assessing patient safety culture have been conducted in the acute and primary care settings These studies reported organisation safety initiatives and changes at the organisational levels are needed to improve patient safety culture in Qatar. 17,18 Community pharmacies are known to be one of the patient's first point of contact with the healthcare system, where pharmacists play an essential role in providing patient care in a safe manner. Patient safety in community pharmacies is portrayed through the provision of optimal therapeutic agents in appropriate doses by pharmacists to meet the health-related needs of patients or customers.…”

“…[27][28][29][30] In spite of considerable advances in healthcare technology and skills of pharmacists over the past decades, patients in the Arab world are still at risk of being exposed to harm from medication errors as a result of inadequate patient safety cultures within healthcare organisations. 16,17 In Qatar, most of the research and initiatives related to patient safety have occurred in hospital and primary healthcare settings. There is paucity of information and research on community pharmacies' involvement in issues related to patient safety such…”

“…Locally in Qatar, studies assessing patient safety culture have been conducted in the acute and primary care settings utilising the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (MOSPSC) and Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) respectively. These studies reported organisation safety initiatives and changes at the organisational levels are needed to improve patient safety culture in Qatar 17,18 …”

Avaliação Da Cultura De Segurança Do Paciente Na Atenção Primária À Saúde

“…Estudo que avaliou desafios de trabalhar em equipe na APS mostrou que a equipe multiprofissional percebeu a comunicação aberta como um aspecto facilitador do trabalho, e necessita ser realizada de forma direta, sincera, respeitosa e colaborativa, mesmo com divergência de ideias entre os profissionais. A forma de estreitar relações e favorecer a comunicação aberta no cotidiano de trabalho é por meio das reuniões de equipe, as quais são vistas como momentos de integração e construção para um ambiente de trabalho harmonioso, ocasião para estreitar as relações entre a equipe e o planejamento das ações (18) .…”