Assessment of a patient safety culture: a nationwide cross-sectional study comparing public and private hospitals in Kuwait.

backgroundSeveral international health bodies advocate measuring patient safety culture within an organisation as an effective strategy for sustainably improving safety. This study aims to assess and compare patient safety culture across public and private hospitals in Kuwait.

methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted utilising the Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture. The questionnaire was distributed among clinical staff in public general and private hospitals. Data analysis using Microsoft Excel and SPSS 23 (α level = 0.05) provided an overview of participant characteristics and patient safety culture scores. A model for predicting the determinants of patient safety culture score was constructed from a regression analysis.

resultsA total of 890 questionnaires were distributed equally between the public and private sectors. The overall response rate was 94.9%. Assessment of the positive percentage of patient safety culture showed that nationally, five composites were areas of strength: "Teamwork within Units" (87.2%), "Organizational Learning-Continuous Improvement" (87.5%), "Management Support for Patient Safety" (77.8%), "Feedback & Communication about Error" (75.8%) and "Teamwork across Units" (75.0%). Private hospitals showed these same areas of strength, whereas public hospitals had fewer. Private hospitals scored statistically significant higher positive percentages than public hospitals in most of the composites. Benchmarking against a 2015 study in Kuwait indicates that the positive percentages of six composites increased at the national level, whereas four remained the same. "Staffing" and "Non-punitive response to errors" were strikingly low.

conclusionIn this first national study to assess patient safety culture in public and private hospitals in Kuwait, many areas of safety culture had improved. However, some areas require special attention, although causality cannot be inferred, which is a limitation of the study's design. A comparison between the two sectors revealed differences in the patient safety culture, which might be relevant to the guidelines governing them. Policymakers should set unified guidelines governing staffing in both sectors and devise intervention strategies to develop a culture that establishes learning from adverse events and supports patient safety, incorporating a just culture and whistle-blower protection. In academia, Kuwait University should incorporate patient safety and quality-of-care topics into its curricula.