The relationship between patient safety culture and adverse events: a study in palestinian hospitals

Patient safety has been considered the heart of healthcare quality. This study aims to explore relationships between patient safety culture and adverse event rates at unit levels in Palestinian hospitals, and provide insight on initiatives to improve patient safety. A retrospective, exploratory design was used. Patient safety culture was measured by the Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) developed by Westat. Adverse events were measured using the Global Trigger Tool (GTT), developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. GTT data was collected from patient records discharged May – August 2009 and the HSOPSC data collected in 2010. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize departments’ results. Spearman’s rho coefficient was used to determine relationships between safety culture and adverse events. The results showed that –as expected- there exists relationships between safety culture and the rate of adverse events at departmental level. Almost all of the relationships tested were in the expected direction. 8 (57 %) of the 15 relationships were statistically significant ( p < 0.05, p < 0.01), indicating that departments with a more positive patient safety culture had lower rates of adverse events in their department. Our study confirms the idea that a more positive patient safety culture is associated with lower adverse events in hospitals at the departmental levels in Palestine. Further analysis should include a more representative sample to examine the causal relationship between patient safety culture and adverse events incidents.