Perceptions of Healthcare Workers on Patient Safety Culture in a Local Tertiary Government Hospital in the Philippines

Patient safety culture is an important aspect to consider in the development of effective strategies for prevention and risk reduction of patient harm. Currently, there is limited research on the scope of patient safety culture in Philippine hospitals. This study aims to assess and compare the perceptions of medical and non-medical healthcare workers on patient safety culture, determine the hospital’s overall grade of patient safety as perceived by hospital staff, and evaluate the factors influencing patient safety culture. The study was conducted at a local tertiary government hospital in the Philippines from March to December 2024. It makes use of a mixed-method: quantitative stage makes use of the Agency of Health and Quality Research Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, and the qualitative stage makes use of a focused group technique.  Of the 720 randomly selected participants, there is a total of 584 (81.1%) respondents, including 387 medical and 197 non-medical staff. Mann-Whitney U test was used to find significant difference between medical and non-medical staff in the scores, and chi-square was used for categorical data. Results show that the majority (62.5%) perceive the hospital’s overall grade of patient safety as “very good”, while 18.4% perceived it as acceptable, 17.6% as excellent, and only 1.5% as poor.  Among the 12 patient safety culture composites, teamwork within units and organizational learning—continuous improvement has the highest average composite positive scores, 88.65 % and 85.05%, respectively, while nonpunitive response to error and staffing have the lowest, 30.4% and 34.7 %, respectively. Comparing medical and non-medical staff, there is a significant difference in the composite positive scores of the following: teamwork within units (p=0.04), Organizational Learning—Continuous Improvement (p <0.001), frequency of events reported (p <0.001), and Teamwork Across Units (p= 0.01). Healthcare system factors that influence patient safety culture include inadequate staffing, administration’s fault-finding approach, and effective implementation of appropriate policies and protocols, while healthcare professional factors include fear of reporting incidents, effective communication, teamwork, and inclination to focus only on the medical aspect of patient care. In conclusion, there is generally a positive perception of patient safety amongst hospital staff. The four composites that differ in medical and non-medical staff should be taken into account for effective strategies and programs.