The assessment of patient safety culture - the psychometric study of the Serbian version of the questionnaire hospital survey on patient safety culture

Introduction. The advancement of patient safety culture within a health institution is the basic component of reduction of errors and the improvement of the general quality of healthcare. The aim of this study was to assess the patient safety culture by means of Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture in the Serbian setting. Material and Methods. The survey was conducted in five health institutions in the form of cross section study, which included 1,435 health care workers. Results. Nine dimensions have been selected out of 37 items by explorative factor analysis. The total percentage of positive response was 51%. The highest (70%) and the lowest (33%) percentage of positive responses were obtained in the dimensions ?Overall perceptions of safety? and ?Nonpunitive response to errors?, respectively. More than half of the respondents assessed the patient safety as excellent/very good. In the last 12 months, more than half of the respondents have not reported an adverse event. Conclusions. The survey results indicate that changes are necessary in all domains of patient safety culture. Healthcare policy makers have to take responsibility for the implementation of safety culture in every health institution. Patient safety culture can be observed and advanced by full commitment of all those involved in the health care system, understanding both the causes of adverse events and errors, as well as by applying efficient methods to reduce them to the minimum.