Patient Safety Culture Research: A Bibliometric Analysis From 2001 to 2023

To perform a bibliometric analysis of research on patient safety culture from 2001 to 2023.

Retrieve the SSCI and SCIE data in the Web of Science Core Collection with the title "Patient Safety Culture" from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2023. HistCite, Bibliometrix Package, VOSviewer, and Jshare were used to conduct bibliometric analyses. The analysis contents included publications, distribution of countries/regions, core journals, organizations, the evolution of keywords over the years, future trends of the field, author contributions, and citation analysis.

A total of 595 articles authored by 2383 individuals from 1048 different sources were collected. The United States emerged as the most prolific country (N=142), while Westat Corporation was the leading institution (N=11). The number of papers issued by developing and advanced economies is gradually balanced after 2022. The top researchers were Wagner C, Hammer A, and Hasegawa T. The analysis identified 1427 keywords, with the most frequently used being "climate," "health care," "adverse events," "nurses," and "quality." It was noted that trending topics such as "healthcare providers," "work environment," and "high-reliability" have gained traction recently, while earlier years saw a focus on "climate," "care," "healthcare," "perceptions," and "nurses."

Patient safety culture research is gaining increasing attention in the coming years, especially in developing countries. Future research should prioritize the "work environment" and "climate" to enhance patient safety culture, particularly addressing the "barriers" to improving "management" and "communication."