Exploring the perception of safety culture among nurses in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Medical errors and adverse events pose a serious challenge to the global healthcare industry. Nurses are at the frontline in implementing safety measures and protecting patients. This study aimed to investigate nurses' perceptions of the patient safety culture in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study used convenience sampling to survey 402 nurses from various hospitals in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was used for the data collection.

Results: Nurses reported a moderate perception of safety culture, with 60% positive responses. Teamwork had the highest safety culture rating at 77.8%, while responses to error and staffing were the lowest at 39.75% and 46.17%, respectively. Qualifications significantly predicts nurses' safety culture rating (B = -0442, t = -4.279, p < 0.01). Positive correlations were found between event reporting frequency and communication openness (r = 0.142, p < 0.01), and patient safety grades with communication about errors (r = 0.424, p < 0.01) and hospital management support (r = 0.231, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Nurses in Saudi Arabia demonstrated a strong sense of teamwork and commitment to organizational learning. However, critical areas such as staffing and error response require attention to improve patient safety.

Keywords: Hospitals; Nursing; Patient safety; Patient safety culture; Saudi Arabia.