Attitudes towards patient safety among physicians and nurses in Iranian governmental teaching hospitals: a cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: To assess and compare attitudes towards patient safety among physicians and nurses in Iranian governmental teaching hospitals and to identify factors associated with attitudes towards patient safety.

Design: An institution-based, cross-sectional survey was carried out from July to August 2023.

Setting: 10 governmental teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran.

Participants: The study participants comprised a random sample of 186 nurses and 90 physicians who had worked for at least 6 months in their current hospitals.

Outcome measures: The primary outcome measures were mean and SD scores for individual items and the nine main patient safety domains assessed by the Attitudes Toward Patient Safety Questionnaire-III. The secondary outcome measure was the proportion of physicians and nurses who responded positively to each item, expressed as percentages for each group.

Results: Physicians and nurses exhibited moderately positive attitudes towards patient safety (mean scores of 3.79±0.33 and 3.83±0.36, respectively). Both professional groups reported the most positive attitudes in the same dimensions: 'team functioning' and 'working hours as a cause for error' (mean scores of >4 out of 5). Conversely, the lowest scores were observed in 'importance of patient safety in the curriculum', indicating potential gaps in their understanding of patient safety (mean scores of <3.5 out of 5). Physicians displayed significantly more positive attitudes in the domain of 'error inevitability', while nurses held more positive attitudes in 'error reporting confidence' and 'disclosure responsibility' (p<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that the factors associated with more positive attitudes towards patient safety included lower workload (B=0.131; 95% CI 0.047 to 0.215; p=0.002), reporting of adverse events (B=0.100; 95% CI 0.009 to 0.191; p=0.030) and receiving patient safety training (B=0.134; 95% CI 0.019 to 0.249; p< 0.023).

Conclusion: Both professional groups demonstrated moderately positive attitudes towards patient safety. However, the findings highlighted the need for future patient safety training to prioritise enhancement of healthcare professionals' understanding of medical errors. Such training initiatives should be engaging and directly relevant to the specific needs of both nurses and physicians, ensuring its perceived value to their ongoing professional development. Furthermore, fostering a supportive and blame-free environment that encourages the reporting of medical errors is crucial.