The perception of hospital safety culture and selected outcomes among nurses: An exploratory study

The objectives of this study were to examine nurses' perceptions of the hospital safety culture in Jordan and to identify the relationships between aspects of hospital safety culture and selected safety outcomes. Data from 242 registered nurses in five Jordanian hospitals were analyzed. Aspects of hospital safety culture and outcomes were measured using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Among various aspects of hospital safety culture, teamwork within units had the highest average percentage of positive responses (49.8%). Additionally, participants reported deficits in other aspects of safety culture, particularly in staffing and nonpunitive response to errors, with average percentages of positive responses of 30.4% and 30.7%, respectively. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that 9 of 10 subscales of hospital safety culture were significantly correlated to one or more of the hospital safety outcomes. The findings of this study can help policymakers and healthcare administrators identify the weaknesses and strengths of hospital safety issues in order to propose effective strategies to improve patient safety and quality of care.