Effect of an educational programme on the attitudes towards patient safety of operation room nurses

Patient safety is considered the cornerstone of good-quality health care, and its provision is one of the significant challenges in healthcare environments. Patient safety is a basic human right and providing a culture of patient safety is the responsibility of all healthcare personnel, regulatory agencies, and government bodies (Tingle, 2012).

Patient safety was defined by the Institute of Medicine as ‘the prevention of harm to patients' (Aspden et al, 2004). The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) further defined patient safety as:

‘A discipline in the healthcare sector that applies safety scientific methods towards the goal of achieving a trustworthy system of healthcare delivery. Patient safety is also an attribute of healthcare systems, it minimises the incidence and its impact, and maximises recovery from adverse events.’

Making patient safety a top priority is dependent on having a strong and positive safety culture (Nieva and Sorra 2003). Patient safety culture refers to the prevailing attitudes of the members, units or teams of an organisation towards patient safety. It shapes nurses' attitudes about favourable behaviour related to patient safety in their work area; thus, culture influences staff attitudes (Morello et al, 2013). The term patient safety culture is a relatively new and potentially very valuable concept. With the increasing emphasis on safety issues in healthcare organisations worldwide, creating and maintaining a patient safety culture becomes extremely important (Feng et al, 2008). Liu et al (2009) investigated nurses' perceptions of safety culture in Chinese hospitals, indicating three core dimensions as components: management commitment to safety, the safety system and work pressure. Feng et al (2008) identified four subdomains of patient safety culture: system, personal, task-associated and interactive.