The perceptions of patient safety culture: A difference between physicians and nurses in Taiwan

Aims In order to pursue a better patient safety culture and provide a superior medical service for patients, this study aims to respectively investigate the perceptions of patient safety from the viewpoints of physicians and nurses in Taiwan. Background Little knowledge has clearly identified the difference of perceptions between physicians and nurses in patient safety culture. Understanding physicians and nurses' attitudes toward patient safety is a critical issue for healthcare organizations to improve medical quality. Methods Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to verify the structure of data (e.g. reliability and validity), and Pearson's correlation analysis is conducted to demonstrate the relationships among seven patient safety culture dimensions. Results Research results illustrate that more teamwork is exhibited among team members, the more safety of a patient is committed. Perceptions of management and emotional exhaustion are important components that contribute to a better patient safety. More importantly, working conditions and stress recognition are found to be negatively related from the perceptions of nurses. Compared to physicians, nurses reported higher stress and challenges which result from multi-task working conditions in the hospital. Conclusions This study focused on the contribution of a better patient safety culture from different viewpoints of physicians and nurses for healthcare organizations in Taiwan. A different attitudes toward patient safety is found between physicians and nurses. The results enable the hospital management to realize and design appropriate implications for hospital staffs to establish a better patient safety culture.