Patient safety culture in Palestinian hospital pharmacies: a cross-sectional survey. (August 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zaghari, Wafa' J; Hamdan, Motasem
• Is Part Of: Lancet. Volume 390(2017)Supplement 1
• Page Start: S16
• Publication Date: 2017-08
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Periodicals; Medicine; Medicine; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32017-2
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0140-6736

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Assessment of safety culture—safety-related norms and behaviours—in health care settings is receiving increasing attention. Assessment of pharmacy safety culture in the occupied Palestinian territory is scarce. We aimed to investigate patient safety culture in Palestinian hospital pharmacies and its association with hospital characteristics (ie, ownership and number of beds) and pharmacy staff characteristics (including sex, age, education, job title, working hours, and years in profession and working in a hospital). Methods: The self-administered safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) was translated into Arabic and was then undertaken in February 2012 to April 2012. All pharmacy staff (n=115) working for more than 3 months before taking the survey in 28 public, private, and non-governmental hospitals in the West Bank were targeted. We used IBM-SPSS (version 19) for data analysis. Findings: 73 staff completed surveys (response rate 69%). Mean age of participants was 35·3 (SD 6·5) years and 48 (67%) respondents were women. The mean scores for overall safety varied significantly between hospital pharmacies, ranging from 43 (poor safety) to 85 (good safety) on a 0–100 scale (p=0·004). For SAQ domains (including teamwork atmosphere, job satisfaction, safety climate, positive perception of management, stress recognition of respondents, and favourable working conditions), mean scores ranged from 76 (SD 21) for favourable working conditions, to 62 (SD 25) for stress recognition. Only two SAQ domains received 75% or more positive responses from participants, which were for job satisfaction (56 respondents, 77%) and favourable working conditions (56 respondents, 77%). Overall safety score was significantly associated with hospital ownership, with higher scores in private and non-governmental hospitals than in public hospitals (p=0·002). Additionally, participants working in hospitals with less than 50 beds reported higher positive perceptions of management than did their counterparts in hospitals with a greater number of beds (p=0·031). No participant characteristic was significantly related to SAQ domain scores. 45 (62%) respondents did not report any drug-related adverse event recorded by patients in the past year. 64 (87%) participants rated patient safety at their hospital units as excellent or very good, and 9 (13%) rated patient safety as acceptable. Interpretation: Our results showed that patient safety could be improved in Palestinian hospital pharmacies. Additionally, results showed the interventions that are needed might vary across hospitals. Funding: None.