Safety culture in healthcare: mixed method study

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality and Safety
• Organizational Psychology
• Mixed Methods Research

Background:

• Low healthcare provider perceptions of management's effectiveness in safety culture.
• Limited literature on management's role in patient safety culture.
• Need to explore safety culture in interprofessional teams.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine patient safety culture in an interprofessional team at a neurology and neurosurgery center.
• Investigate perceptions of management's impact on safety culture.
• Utilize a mixed-methods approach to understand safety climate.

Main Methods:

• Applied the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) in a quantitative phase.
• Employed a qualitative phase with focus groups for in-depth insights.
• Utilized a quan→QUAL sequential explanatory mixed-methods design.

Main Results:

• Quantitative phase revealed a negative safety climate via SAQ.
• Qualitative phase identified specific safety problems and proposed solutions.
• Implemented improvements directly based on participant feedback.
• Integrated data confirmed SAQ findings and highlighted safety culture's multifaceted nature.

Conclusions:

• Provides explanations for the negative association between management and safety climate.
• Demonstrates the value of mixed methods in understanding healthcare safety.
• Offers insights into improving safety culture through interprofessional collaboration.