Assessment of patient safety culture in two emergency departments in Australia: a cross sectional study
ISSN: 1754-2731
Article publication date: 8 March 2022
Issue publication date: 26 January 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Patient safety culture is a vital element to create patient safety in healthcare organisations. Emergency department (ED) professionals operate in unstable conditions that may pose risk to patient safety on day-to-day basis. The aim of this study was to assess the status of patient safety culture and to quantify the dimensions of safety culture in the ED setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a descriptive cross sectional study that used a validated questionnaire distributed to the staff working in the nominated EDs . Perceptions on various dimensions of safety culture were reported and the frequency of positive responses for each dimension was calculated.
Findings
“Teamwork” is the only dimension that rated positive by over 70% of participants. Other dimensions rated below 50%, except for “Organisational learning–continuous improvement” which rated 51.2%. Areas that rated the lowest were “Handover and transitions”, “Staffing”, “Non-punitive response to error” and “Frequency of event reporting” with average positive response rate of 15.4%, 26%, 26.8% and 27.6%, respectively.
Originality/value
This study displayed a concerning perceptions held by participants about the deficiency of patient safety culture in their EDs. Moreover, it provided a baseline finding giving a clearer vision of the areas of patient safety culture that need improvement.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank participants for their invaluable time and information.
Ethics statement: This material is the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published and not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. The paper reflects the authors' own research and analysis in a truthful and complete manner. The paper properly credits the meaningful contributions of co-authors and co-researchers. The results are appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research. All sources used are properly disclosed (correct citation). All authors have been personally and actively involved in substantial work leading to the paper, and will take public responsibility for its content.
Conflict of interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.
Citation
Alshyyab, M.A., Albsoul, R.A., Kinnear, F.B., Saadeh, R.A., Alkhaldi, S.M., Borkoles, E. and Fitzgerald, G. (2023), "Assessment of patient safety culture in two emergency departments in Australia: a cross sectional study", The TQM Journal, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 540-553. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-01-2022-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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