Assessment of Nurses' Patient Safety Culture in Primary Health Care Centers in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Purpose:  Patient safety culture emphasizes strategies to prevent harm, learn from errors, and strengthen healthcare systems, nurses play a crucial role in maintaining patient safety within health facilities. Assessing patient safety culture (PSC) among nurses is essential for identifying gaps, fostering improvements, and strengthening overall care delivery. This study aims to explore nurses' perceptions of patient safety culture in the primary health care centers (PHCs) in Saudi Arabia.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was utilized to select 387 nurses employed in primary healthcare centers in Jeddah, using convenient sampling via an online survey. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) questionnaire was used to evaluate the perception of patient safety culture. Data were saved and examined utilizing SPSS Ver.26 software. Along with descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests and ANOVA were employed to examine the significance of differences among subgroups. A p-value below 0.05 signifies statistical significance.

Findings: The overall score representing nurse managers' perceptions of patient safety culture was a mean of 3.93 with a standard deviation of 0.44. Among the assessed domains, the teamwork support domain received the highest score, with a mean of 4.27 and a standard deviation of 0.587, while the nonpunitive response to error had the lowest score, with a mean of 2.44 and a standard deviation of 0.883. Nurses younger than 30 years reported a significantly lower overall score, with a mean of 3.74 and a standard deviation of 0.43. In contrast, nurses holding diplomas and those in clinical roles achieved higher scores, with means of 3.97 and 3.99, respectively, and standard deviations of 0.44 and 0.46. Scores increased notably with additional years of experience, particularly for nurses with ten or more years of experience, who achieved a mean score of 4.07 with a standard deviation of 0.62, compared to those with ten to less than fifteen years of experience, who achieved a mean score of 3.75 with a standard deviation of 0.33. The differences were statistically significant with a p-value of less than 0.001. Significant differences, also with a p-value of less than 0.001, were observed across departments. The WBC unit recorded the highest perception score, with a mean of 4.32 and a standard deviation of 0.50, followed by the X-ray unit, with a mean of 4.01 and a standard deviation of 0.33

Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Nurses viewed the safety culture positively in the primary health care centers. Less experienced and younger nurses indicated lower perceptions of PSC, whereas clinical nurses assessed it higher than non-clinical personnel. High-pressure areas such as the Operating Room encounter more significant PSC challenges than other departments. It is essential to create training programs that connect younger nurses with older professionals to boost their clinical confidence and safety skills, focusing on learning from errors instead of placing blame.