Development and Validation of the Korean Patient Safety Culture Survey Instrument for Hospitals

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a survey instrument to assess the Patient Safety Culture in Korean hospitals and evaluate its validity and reliability.Methods: A preliminary instrument was developed through a literature review, focus group interviews, content validity testing, and pretesting for face validity. A total of 467 hospital employees participated in the psychometric testing. Validity and reliability assessments included content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity, and internal consistency.Results: The Korean Patient Safety Culture Survey Instrument comprised 35 items across seven factors: leadership, patient safety policy and procedure, patient safety improvement system, teamwork, non-punitive environment, patient safety knowledge and attitudes, and patient safety priority. These seven factors contributed 60.98% of the variance of the total scale. Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency was .93; the seven factors ranged from .66 to .91.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the Korean Patient Safety Culture Survey Instrument is reliable, valid, and suitable for measuring patient safety culture in Korean hospitals.