Nurses’ perception about patient safety culture in neonatal intensive care units: A comparative study

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to (1) verify whether the translated short form of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire gives consistent results when used to evaluate safety culture in the neonatal intensive care units; and (2) describe nurses’ perception about patient safety culture, comparing between both governmental and private neonatal intensive care units’ nurses.

Methods: Research design: An exploratory, descriptive, comparative. Subjects: A purposive sample of 190 neonatal nurses. Setting: Six, level IV neonatal intensive care units (three private and three governmental) of hospitals affiliated to Mansoura City, and Mansoura University and Ministry of Health and Population, Egypt. Data collection tools were consisted of the demographic characteristics questionnaire sheet and the self-administered 4-type Likert scale Safety Attitude Questionnaire sheet with its six dimensions after it was translated into Arabic language.

Results: The respondents' nurses differed in their rating on the Safety Attitude Questionnaire items; as well the percentages of positive and negative responses were showed significant differences among the Safety Attitude Questionnaire dimensions, within and between nurses of the governmental and private neonatal intensive care units. In addition, Cronbach’s total coefficient alpha of the six dimensions is considered strong, with Alpha coefficients were 0.86.

Conclusions: The study findings affirmed the psychometric properties of the Arabic form of Safety Attitude Questionnaire and it turned out to be a successful tool to assess safety culture perceptions among neonatal intensive care units' nurses. Moreover, linked with their workplaces, significant variations in the neonatal nurses' responses toward safety culture related dimensions were detected.