[Workers' perceptions of safety culture at a hospital]

Little is known about the quality of work practices regarding patient safety and the safety culture as such in the Norwegian health care services.

A questionnaire survey was performed at Stavanger University Hospital, with health workers as the main target group. The "Hospital Survey On Patient Safety Culture" (HSOPSC) instrument was translated into Norwegian and used to measure safety culture. 1919 workers answered the survey (55%).

The different disciplines varied with respect to the culture of reporting (large variation) and the general judgement of patient safety (less variation). 50% of the health workers regarded patient safety to be very good or excellent. Social educators, nurses and specialist nurses regarded patient safety to be lower than that reported by other professional groups. Generally all the safety culture dimensions were significantly correlated and should therefore be considered together. Feedback and communication about error were e.g. the factors, which were most highly correlated with reporting of near events. Norwegian health workers perceive the safety culture to be less adequate than that reported by American health care workers for similar assessments, with the exception of three dimensions (communication openness, non-punitive response to error, supervisor/manager expectations & actions promoting patient safety) dimensions.

The results indicate a need to improve safety culture and patient safety in Norwegian health care.