Patient Safety Culture: What of the Developing Country (Jamaica) Experience?

This study sought to determine patient safety culture at Type A (acute tertiary care) hospitals in Jamaica. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) version one, consisting of 12 composites, was used to assess safety culture among doctors and nurses ( n = 328). Positive percentage scores were determined for each composite. Logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of positive patient safety grade. The overall percentage positive responses for patient safety culture across the two hospitals was 50%. The composites with the highest positive percentage score were ‘teamwork within unit’ (73%) and ‘supervisory/manager expectations and actions promoting patient safety’ (71%), while ‘frequency of events reported’ (39%), ‘staffing’ (34%) and ‘non-punitive response to errors’ (23%) had the lowest scores. Independent predictors of a positive patient safety grade were the primary area of work, length of time in profession, management support for patient safety score, overall perception of patient safety score and frequency of event reported score. Patient safety culture was mediocre at the institutions studied. Targeted strategies should be implemented to promote effective communication systems, non-punitive systems for reporting and assessing errors, executive ownership, responsibility and accountability.