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Assessment of patient safety culture: a nationwide survey of community pharmacists in Kuwait.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Medication errors have been the largest component of medical errors threatening patient safety worldwide. Several international health bodies advocate measuring safety culture within healthcare organizations as an effective strategy for sustainable safety improvement. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in a Middle Eastern country at the level of community pharmacy, to examine safety culture and to evaluate the extent to which patient safety is a strategic priority. METHODS:A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The Pharmacy Survey on Patient Safety Culture (PSOPSC), developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), was used to collect data. PSOPSC is a self-administered questionnaire which was previously tested for validity and reliability. The questionnaire was distributed among pharmacists who work in community pharmacies from the five governorates of Kuwait (Capital, Hawalli, Farwaniya, Jahra, and Ahmadi). The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 24 was used for analysing data. RESULTS:A total of 255 community pharmacists from the five governorates were approached to participate in the study, of whom 253 returned a completed questionnaire, with the response rate of 99%. Results from the study showed that patient safety is a strategic priority in many aspects of patient safety standards at the level of community pharmacies. This was reflected by the high positive response rate (PRR) measures demonstrated in the domains of "Teamwork" (96.8%), "Organizational Learning-Continuous Improvement" (93.2%) and "Patient Counselling" (90.9%). On the other hand, the lowest PRR was given to the "Staffing, Work Pressure, and Pace" domain which scored 49.7%. CONCLUSIONS:Understanding community pharmacists' perspectives of patient safety culture within their organization is critical. It can help identify areas of strength and those that require improvement, which can help support decision about actions to improve patient safety. The current study showed that urgent attention should be given to the areas of weakness, mainly in the dimension of "Staffing, Work Pressure and Pace." The pharmacists pointed the need for adequate breaks between shifts and less distractible work environment to perform their jobs accurately.

SUBMITTER: Alsaleh FM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6251142 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessment of patient safety culture: a nationwide survey of community pharmacists in Kuwait.

Alsaleh Fatemah Mohammad FM Alsaleh Fatemah Mohammad FM Abahussain Eman Ali EA Altabaa Hamed Hamdi HH Al-Bazzaz Mohammed Faisal MF Almandil Noor Barak NB

BMC health services research 20181122 1

<h4>Background</h4>Medication errors have been the largest component of medical errors threatening patient safety worldwide. Several international health bodies advocate measuring safety culture within healthcare organizations as an effective strategy for sustainable safety improvement. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in a Middle Eastern country at the level of community pharmacy, to examine safety culture and to evaluate the extent to which patient safety is a st ...[more]

PMID: 30466436

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Project description:BackgroundAssessments of the culture surrounding patient safety can inform healthcare settings on how their structures and processes impact patient outcomes. This study investigated patient safety culture in Primary Health Care Centres in Kuwait, and benchmarked the findings against regional and international results. This study also examined the association between predictors and outcomes of patient safety culture in these settings.MethodsThis cross-sectional quantitative study used the Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The study was targeted at staff of all the Primary Health Care Centres in Kuwait with at least one year of experience. Data were analysed using SPSS 23 at a significance level of ≤ .05. Univariate (means, standard deviations, frequencies, percentages) and bivariate (chi-squared tests, student t-tests, ANOVA F-tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, Spearman's correlation) analyses provided an overview of participant socio-demographics and the association between patient safety culture composites and outcomes. We undertook a multivariate regression analysis to predict the determinants of patient safety culture. Results were benchmarked against similar local (Kuwait, 2014), regional (Yemen, 2015) and international (US, 2018) studies.ResultsThe responses of 6602 employees from 94 centres were included in the study, with an overall response rate of 78.7%. The survey revealed Teamwork (87.8% positive ratings) and Organisational Learning (78.8%) as perceived areas of strength. Communication about Error (57.7%), Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety and Quality (57.4%), Communication Openness (54.4%), Owner/Managing Partner/Leadership Support for Patient Safety (53.8%) and Work Pressure and Pace (28.4%) were identified as areas requiring improvement. Benchmarking analysis revealed that Kuwait centres are performing at benchmark levels or better on four and six composites when compared to international and regional findings, respectively. Regression modelling highlighted significant predictions regarding patient safety outcomes and composites.ConclusionsThis is the first major study addressing the culture of patient safety in public Primary Health Care Centres regionally. Improving patient safety culture is critical for these centres to improve the quality and safety of the healthcare services they provide. The findings of this study can guide country-level strategies to develop the systems that govern patient safety practices.

Project description:BackgroundSafety activities have been initiated at many hospitals in Taiwan, but little is known about the safety culture at these hospitals. The aims of this study were to verify a safety culture survey instrument in Chinese and to assess hospital safety culture in Taiwan.MethodsThe Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Survey was conducted in 2008, using the adapted Safety Attitude Questionnaire in Chinese (SAQ-C). Hospitals and their healthcare workers participated in the survey on a voluntary basis. The psychometric properties of the five SAQ-C dimensions were examined, including teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perception of management, and working conditions. Additional safety measures were asked to assess healthcare workers' attitudes toward their collaboration with nurses, physicians, and pharmacists, respectively, and perceptions of hospitals' encouragement of safety reporting, safety training, and delivery delays due to communication breakdowns in clinical areas. The associations between the respondents' attitudes to each SAQ-C dimension and safety measures were analyzed by generalized estimating equations, adjusting for the clustering effects at hospital levels.ResultsA total of 45,242 valid questionnaires were returned from 200 hospitals with a mean response rate of 69.4%. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.792 for teamwork climate, 0.816 for safety climate, 0.912 for job satisfaction, 0.874 for perception of management, and 0.785 for working conditions. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated a good model fit for each dimension and the entire construct. The percentage of hospital healthcare workers holding positive attitude was 48.9% for teamwork climate, 45.2% for perception of management, 42.1% for job satisfaction, 37.2% for safety climate, and 31.8% for working conditions. There were wide variations in the range of SAQ-C scores in each dimension among hospitals. Compared to those without positive attitudes, healthcare workers with positive attitudes to each SAQ dimension were more likely to perceive good collaboration with coworkers, and their hospitals were more likely to encourage safety reporting and to prioritize safety training programs (Wald chi-square test, p < 0.001 for all).ConclusionsAnalytical results verified the psychometric properties of the SAQ-C at Taiwanese hospitals. The safety culture at most hospitals has not fully developed and there is considerable room for improvement.

Project description:BackgroundPatient safety is a universal issue which affects countries at all stages of health system development. Patient safety research in primary care reveals that globally millions of people suffer disabilities, injuries, or death due to unsafe medical practices. This study aims to explore the understanding of frontline primary health care professionals regarding patient safety culture in health care facilities in Oman.MethodsA questionnaire-based survey was conducted using a validated Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture tool. Invitations were sent to all 198 health professionals from each occupational category from each primary care center in Muscat, Oman.ResultsThe total number of respondents was 186 participants out of 198 (response rate: 94%). Overall, the staff had a strong sense of teamwork within the units (85%), they reported organization learning for continuous improvement (84%) and teamwork across the units (82%). However, the four dimensions which received the lowest scores were related to communication problems between the staff (23%), non-punitive response to errors (27%), frequency of event reporting (40%), and errors occurring when transferring patients to higher levels of health care during handoffs and transitions (46%).ConclusionsOverall, the participants rated patient safety in the primary health care setting as excellent or very good and the perception of patient safety was moderately positive. The core areas of strength were teamwork within the units with positivity and organization learning and continuous improvement. The weaknesses were non-punitive response to errors, inadequate staffing and hand offs and transition. The results of this study will provide policy makers and health care professionals with a detailed understanding of the current patient safety culture in primary care in Muscat, Oman. The results will be used by the Ministry of Health to inform policy and strategies to strengthen patient safety within primary health care in Oman.

Project description:By assessing patient safety culture, healthcare providers can identify areas for improvement in patient safety culture. To achieve this, these assessment outcomes have to be relevant and presented clearly. The aim of our study was to explore healthcare professionals' views on the feedback of a patient safety culture assessment.Twenty four hospitals participated in a patient safety culture assessment in 2012. Hospital departments received feedback in a report and on a website. In a survey, we evaluated healthcare professionals' views on this feedback and the effect of additional information about patient safety culture improvement strategies on the appraisal of the feedback. 20 hospitals participated in part I (evaluation of the report), 13 hospitals participated in part II (evaluation of the website).Healthcare professionals (e.g. members of staff and department heads/managers) rated the feedback in the report and on the website positively (average mean on different aspects?=?7.2 on a scale from 1 to 10). Interpreting results was sometimes difficult, and information was sometimes lacking, like specific recommendations and improvement strategies. The provision of additional general information on patient safety culture improvement strategies resulted only in a higher appraisal of the attractiveness (lay-out) of the report and the understandability of the feedback report. The majority (84 %) of the healthcare professionals agreed or partly agreed that the feedback on patient safety culture stimulated actions to improve patient safety culture. However, a quarter also stated that although the feedback report provided insight into the patient safety culture, they did not know how to improve patient safety culture in their hospital.Healthcare professionals seem to be positive about the feedback on patient safety culture and its effect on stimulating patient safety culture improvement. To optimally tune feedback on patient safety culture towards healthcare professionals, the following might help: 1) pay attention to the understandability of outcomes for its intended users; and 2) create feedback that is tailored towards specific hospital departments.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:This study was designed to identify the services provided by community pharmacists in Kuwait and their views regarding self-care in pregnancy and lactation. In addition, it determined the pharmacists' recommendations for treatment of pregnancy-related and breast feeding-related ailments. DESIGN:Cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey. SETTING:Community pharmacies in Kuwait. PARTICIPANTS:207 pharmacies were randomly selected from the Ministry of Health database. One registered pharmacist was approached from each pharmacy. One hundred and ninety-two (92.8%) pharmacists agreed to participate and completed a self-administered questionnaire. OUTCOMES:The proportions of pharmacists offering particular advice for health conditions in pregnancy and lactation, pharmacists' recommendations for common and specific ailments during pregnancy and breast feeding, and pharmacists' views about self-care in pregnancy and breast feeding. RESULTS:The top services provided to pregnant and lactating women were recommending vitamins and food supplements (89.8%) and contraception advice (83.4%), respectively. More than half of participants indicated that they would recommend medications for headache, constipation, cough, runny nose, sore throat, nausea/vomiting, indigestion, sore or cracked nipple and insufficient milk. Diarrhoea, haemorrhoids, insomnia, varicose vein, swelling of the feet and legs, vaginal itching, back pain, fever, mastitis and engorgement were frequently referred to the physician. Recommendations on medication use were occasionally inappropriate in terms of unneeded drug therapy, off-label use and safety. In relation to offering advice and solving medication and health problems of pregnant and lactating women, more than half of pharmacists indicated that they have sufficient knowledge (61.5%; 50.5%) and confidence (58.3%; 53.1%), respectively. Most of the respondents (88.5%) agreed that a continuing education programme on this topic would be of value for their practice. CONCLUSION:The present findings show that respondents had different recommendations for treatment of pregnancy-related and lactation-related ailments; and also highlight the need for interventions, including continuing professional development and revision of the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum.

Project description:BackgroundThe Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was designed to assess staff views on patient safety culture in hospital settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the multilevel psychometric properties of the survey.MethodsSurvey data from 331 U.S. hospitals with 2,267 hospital units and 50,513 respondents were analyzed to examine the psychometric properties of the survey's items and composites. Item factor loadings, intraclass correlations (ICCs), design effects, internal consistency reliabilities, and multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA) were examined as well as intercorrelations among the survey's composites.ResultsPsychometric analyses confirmed the multilevel nature of the data at the individual, unit and hospital levels of analysis. Results provided overall evidence supporting the 12 dimensions and 42 items included in the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture as having acceptable psychometric properties at all levels of analysis, with a few exceptions. The Staffing composite fell slightly below cutoffs in a number of areas, but is conceptually important given its impact on patient safety. In addition, one hospital-level model fit indicator for the Supervisor/Manager Expectations & Actions Promoting Patient Safety composite was low (CFI = .82), but all other psychometrics for this scale were good. Average dimension intercorrelations were moderate at .42 at the individual level, .50 at the unit level, and .56 at the hospital level.ConclusionsPsychometric analyses conducted on a very large database of hospitals provided overall support for the patient safety culture dimensions and items included in the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The survey's items and dimensions overall are psychometrically sound at the individual, unit, and hospital levels of analysis and can be used by researchers and hospitals interested in assessing patient safety culture. Further research is needed to study the criterion-related validity of the survey by analysing the relationship between patient safety culture and patient outcomes and studying how to improve patient safety culture.

Project description:Background: Alcohol withdrawal occurs commonly but diagnosis and therapies have not been described. Objective: To characterize practices regarding the assessment and treatment of acute severe alcohol withdrawal and describe perceived barriers to therapies. Methods: A random sample of 500 US-based critical care pharmacists received the pretested, electronically distributed questionnaire. Results: 94 (20%) of 471 eligible recipients responded with diverse representation. Manifestations of alcohol withdrawal that were commonly rated as severe were seizures (91.3%), not oriented to person/place/date (84.1%), delusions (73.8%), diastolic blood pressure >110 mmHg (51.7%), inconsolable agitation (50.7%), and tachycardia (50.7%). Scoring tools were considered highly effective for assessing severity by 43 respondents (45.8%). Management protocols existed in 86 (90.5%) institutions. Sixty-eight (72.3%) respondents indicated protocols were used often/routinely for initial management but only 23 (24.5%) for adjunctive therapies (p<0.0001). Agents employed for initial and adjunctive management were benzodiazepines (92.6% and 61.7%, respectively, p<0.0001), clonidine (29.8% and 34%, respectively), haloperidol (26.6% and 33%, respectively), and barbiturates (20.2% and 24.5%, respectively). Adjunctive agents were most commonly added to reduce dosages of benzodiazepines (antipsychotics, barbiturates, alpha-2 agonists), prevent respiratory depression (alpha-2 agonists), prevent or treat autonomic symptoms (alpha-2 agonists), and prevent or treat agitation/delusions (antipsychotics, barbiturates, alpha-2 agonists). Agents with common barriers to use were dexmedetomidine (bradycardia, hypotension, cost), propofol (hypotension, tracheal intubation required), and ketamine (lack of supportive data). Conclusion: Assessment and management strategies of acute severe alcohol withdrawal vary considerably. Benzodiazepines are the mainstay of treatment. Other agents are commonly used to prevent complications from benzodiazepines or treat agitation/delusions.

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Assessment of patient safety culture: a nationwide survey of community pharmacists in Kuwait.

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Assessment of patient safety culture: a nationwide survey of community pharmacists in Kuwait.

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