Abstract:
Background: Patient safety is an important aspect of health care quality and currently it is an
issue of high concern globally. Patient safety culture is widely recognized as a significant driver
in changing behavior and expectations to increase and emphasize safety within organizations. In
Ethiopia little is known about patient safety culture in hospitals at all levels.
Objective: To assess patient safety culture and associated factors among health care workers in
public hospitals of East Wollega Zone, Oromia Regional State; West Ethiopia.
Methods: Institution-based cross sectional study was conducted and 421 health care workers
were selected using simple random sampling technique from March 4-March 29/2019. The
standardized tool which measures 12 patient safety culture composites were used for data
collection. The data were cleaned and entered in-to Epidata version 3.1 and analysis was done
using Statistical package for social science Version 25. First the assumptions were checked and
the linear regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with patient safety culture.
Bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed. Significance level was set
at 95 % CI and p-value < 0.05 and un-standardized β coefficient was used for interpretation.
Results: This study revealed that Level of patient safety culture was 49.2% and patient safety
culture components score have ranged from 29.2% (non-punitive responses to errors) to 77.9%
(teamwork within hospital units). Respondents those whose age ≥ 45 years (β = 13.642, p-value:
= 0.001, CI: 5.324-21.959); those who had 1-5 years experience in the current hospital (β =
5.559, p-value: = 0.002, CI: 2.075-9.042); those who had work in general hospital (β = 11.988,
p-value: < 0.001, CI: 7.233-16.743) and primary hospitals (β = 6.408, p-value: = 0.003, CI:
2.192-10.624) were statistically significantly associated with patient safety culture.
Conclusion: In general the level of patient safety culture and percent positive scores of most of
patient safety culture components were very low and need improvement. Respondents whose age
≥ 45 years, who had work in Primary & general hospitals and who had 1-5 years current
hospital experience were positively associated with patient safety culture. Generally working on
patient safety culture among hospital staffs through patient safety training and participation in
patient safety program were recommended.
