Survey of registered nurses 'and nurses in management position’s perceptions of the safety culture at AUBMC

Abstract

Safety culture has become a particular focus of healthcare systems and hospitals since the publication of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, “To err is human” in 1999. This study was conducted in order to assess AUBMC readiness for further development of its patient safety culture. More specifically, the purposes of the study were to describe Registered Nurses and nurses in administrative positions’ perceptions of the patient safety culture at AUBMC, to compare the perceptions of the two groups of nurses (RNs and nurses in administrative positions) and to compare the perceptions of the study sample with the norms published in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) 2011 US benchmarking database. The study also explores the relationship between perceptions of transformational leadership and the AUBMC safety culture by category of nurse (RN vs. nurses in administrative positions).The study was conducted as a cross sectional survey of RNs and nurses working in administrative positions including nurse educators. Usable questionnaires were returned by 260 respondents. The survey was conducted using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire HSOSC) and the Global Transformational Leadership Scale (GTL).On average, the percentage of positive HSOSC scores (57.6percent) were lower than published AHRQ norms (63.2percent). Percentage positive responses were lower for AUBMC on nine of the twelve HSOSC composites, however the differences were not significant, (p=0.311). There was a significant difference in the number of safety events reported by RNs and the nurses in the administrative group (p=0.000). RNs (66.4 percent) and nurses in the administrative group (74.1percent) rated the transformational leadership characteristics of their direct manager-supervisor positively (p=0.025). Total transformational leadership score was found to have a significant association with total safety score in a linear regression model, (β = 1.825, p=0.000).