Turkish surgical nurses' attitudes related to patient safety: A questionnaire study

Abstract

Background: Surgical nurses work in demanding environments and play a vital role in maintaining and promoting patient safety due to the nature of their work. Hence it is important to know their attitudes toward patient safety.

Aim: This research aimed to evaluate the patient safety attitudes of Turkish surgical nurses.

Methods and materials: This was a descriptive cross-sectional and questionnaire research. Data were collected from August 2015-January 2016 using the staff information form and the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ). The study population included 231 nurses who work in operating rooms, surgical intensive care, and surgical wards of four hospitals in western Turkey. Data were analyzed with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, the Mann Whitney U test, and Kruskal Wallis tests using the SPSS 18.

Results: The teamwork and safety climate scores of operating room nurses were higher than the scores of surgical intensive care and ward nurses. The stress recognition scores of surgical ward nurses were the highest, followed by the scores of the operating room and surgical intensive care nurses. The perception of management scores of operating room nurses was higher than those of surgical ward nurses, and nurses ages 18-30 were higher than those of nurses ages 31-40. None of the six domains of safety culture, including job satisfaction, teamwork, safety climate, the perception of management, stress recognition, and working conditions achieved a positive mean score over 75.

Conclusion: This research paper provides an evaluation of the safety attitudes of surgical nurses. Findings can provide information for healthcare leaders to improve the safety culture.

Keywords: Nursing; patient safety; surgical units.