Assessment of patient safety culture perception among healthcare workers in intensive care units of Alexandria Main University Hospital, Egypt

ABSTRACT Background Patient safety culture (PSC) is a vital feature to assess the ability of any healthcare setting in addressing and reducing patients harm. This study attempted to assess the PSC in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at Alexandria Main University Hospital (AMUH) from the point of view of physicians and nurses. Methods A cross-sectional study was implemented in two ICUs at AMUH over period of six months. Seventy-two participants were interviewed using the Hospital Patient Safety Scale, customized by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Results The average positive response to individual items in the patient safety scale ranged from 2.7% to 79.2%. The “Teamwork within Units” dimension had the utmost average percentage positive score (63.5%) amongst all participants, on the other hand, the “Non-Punitive Response to Errors” dimension had the lowest one (12.0%). Less than half (45.8%) of the interviewed participants rated patient’s safety at the hospital as accepted. Conclusions PSC is friable in targeted ICUs, much of work is needed to raise the responsiveness of health care givers regarding this issue. Executives and supervisors need to encourage the practices of PS through a blame free culture.