Assessment of the Safety Climate at University Hospitals in the Slovak Republic from the Nurses’ Perspective

Abstract Introduction: Safety climate consists of individual dimensions that might be assessed using specific instruments, e.g., the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS). Establishing the safety climate in healthcare facilities leads to improvements in patient safety. Aim: To assess the safety climate at university hospitals in the Slovak Republic from the nurses’ perspective and to determine the relationship between organisational variables and the particular components of the safety climate. Methods: The study has a cross-sectional design. Data were collected using the HSOPS between December 2017 and July 2018. Two university hospitals participated in the study and overall 280 respondents were included. Respondents were recruited through the purposive sampling method. Data were analysed by descriptive and inductive statistics in the statistical programme SPSS 25.0. Results: Results indicate that in the university hospitals there is a low-level of safety climate. The significant relationship was proved between organisational variables such as the experience in the current position, leaving intention, overtime, perception of staff adequacy, unit type, nurse-patient ratio, and the particular components of the safety climate. Conclusion: Our findings may help hospital management to raise the awareness of the safety climate and to gain a sophisticated overview of the particular components of the safety climate. Adding new organisational variables may help to assess the safety climate from multiple perspectives and, thus, identify areas contributing to patient safety.