Safety culture in a nephrology service at a university hospital: A mixed method study

To evaluate the safety culture from the perception of the multidisciplinary team of the nephrology service of a university hospital.

Mixed methods study with concomitant triangulation of data, with 56 participants. In the adopted approach, data are weighted with QUAN+qual notation. Quantitative data were collected using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture instrument and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were obtained from recorded interviews and analyzed using the content analysis technique proposed by Bardin.

The answers obtained in the quantitative instrument pointed out that of the twelve dimensions of the service, three were neutral, nine were fragile, and none was strong. From the qualitative analysis, similarities and divergences were identified in the statements about the quantitative data. The intersection of the data resulted in the category "Safety culture in the work environment of Nephrology".

Knowing the level of safety culture through the perception of nephrology health professionals allowed the identification of a critical and problematic scenario that needs improvements in the dimensions classified as fragile in order to advance in the perspectives of safety and in the polishing of actions aimed at safer care.