Development and Preliminary Evaluation of Patient Perceptions on Safety Culture in a Hospital Setting Scale

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety Research
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Existing patient safety culture tools primarily target healthcare workers, neglecting crucial patient perspectives.
• Limited research exists on patient-centered safety perceptions and cultural considerations in hospital settings.
• There is a need for validated instruments to capture patients' views on their safety during hospitalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel tool measuring patients' perceptions of safety culture within a hospital environment.
• To conduct a preliminary psychometric analysis of the newly developed patient safety perception tool.
• To provide a patient-centered instrument for assessing hospital safety culture.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative methodological approach was employed for instrument development and testing.
• The tool was developed through literature review, clinical observation, focus group discussions, expert panel reviews, and pilot testing.
• A sample of 122 hospitalized patients participated in the pilot test, with data analyzed using factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha for reliability.

Main Results:

• The developed "Patient Perceptions on Safety Culture in Hospital Setting Scale" comprises 25 items across four dimensions: Hospital workforce, Hospital Environment, Health Management and Care Delivery, and Information Exchange.
• Factor analysis revealed four underlying factors explaining 69.23% of the variance.
• The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, with overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.95 and individual factor alphas ranging from 0.78 to 0.94.

Conclusions:

• The study provides initial evidence for the psychometric properties of a new tool assessing patient perceptions of hospital safety culture.
• Further research with larger, diverse samples is recommended to establish the tool's reliability and validity across different populations and contexts.
• Future studies should also focus on determining valid cut-off points for scoring and interpretation of the patient safety culture tool.