A survey on Healthcare workers' perception of Patient Safety culture and medical error reporting

Yu, Jung Eun

Journal of Korean Society Quality Assurance Health Care 2012;18(1): 57.
Published online December 30, 2012.

환자안전문화와 의료과오 보고에 대한 병원종사자들의 인식조사

유정은

순천향대학교 부천병원

A survey on Healthcare workers' perception of Patient Safety culture and medical error reporting

Jung Eun Yu

SoonChunHyang University Hospital Bucheon

Abstract

Background
The purpose of this study was to understand healthcare workers' perception of patient safety culture and medical error reporting to provide basic resources for the settlement of patient safety culture in medical institutions in Korea.
Methods
For this purpose, convenience sampling by self-selection was applied to healthcare workers at a university hospital in Gyeonggi-do and a total of 482 people responded. The survey used the translated version of AHRQ in Korean and distributed through the Intranet system of the hospital.
Result
The ratio of positive response was low overall. Among the responses, the response for 'Nonpunitive Response to Error' was the lowest at 17.7%, followed by the responses for 'Staffing' at 21.3%, 'Handoffs & Transitions' at 32.9%, and 'Communication Openness' at 44.3%. In result of surveying whether the responders have reported patient safety incidents during the past 12 months, 68.3% responded 'not once.'
Conclusion
The perception of healthcare workers' patient safety culture and medical error reporting, when compared to AHRQ, was lower overall. It is important for healthcare workers to pay greater attention to patient safety to create a safe hospital culture where they do not punish or criticize related individuals or departments.

Key words Patient safety;Organizational culture;Medical error reporting;Perception;