Status and Factors Associated With Patient Safety Culture in Traditional Chinese Medicine Institutions: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Strengthening the patient safety culture is essential for improving healthcare service quality and ensuring patient safety. The study's aim was to investigate the current status of patient safety culture in traditional Chinese medicine institutions and its associated factors to provide scientific recommendations for improvement. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted October 14-18, 2024. Four traditional Chinese medicine institutions in Zhejiang Province, China, were selected using convenience sampling, and the expected sample size was 544 participants. Data were collected using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire, which comprises two sections: individual characteristics and patient safety culture. The latter comprises 10 dimensions with 32 items rated on a five-point Likert scale. Dimension scores were calculated as the mean of corresponding item scores, and the overall score as the mean of all dimension scores. Descriptive statistics, Results: A total of 522 valid questionnaires were collected. The average patient safety culture score was 3.92. Among the dimensions, "F Communication About Error" received the highest score and "H Reporting Patient Safety Events" the lowest score. Age, monthly income, hospital grade, professional title, and weekly working hours were identified as independent factors associated with patient safety culture. Conclusion: The overall patient safety culture in the traditional Chinese medicine institutions of Zhejiang Province is relatively high but is affected by multiple factors. Further efforts are needed to implement diverse strategies aimed at strengthening patient safety culture within traditional Chinese medicine institutions.