Effects of perceptions of the importance of patient safety management and patient safety competency on patient safety management activities among nurses at unaccredited general hospitals

Abstract

Purpose: This descriptive research study attempted to determine how general hospital nurses’ awareness of the importance of patient safety management and patient safety competency affected patient safety management activities.Methods: From September 13 to 26, 2022, a survey was administered to 230 ward nurses who provided direct care to patients at five non-accredited general hospitals being evaluated for accreditation located in metropolitan cities. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, the t-test, one-way analysis, the Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression using SPSS for Windows version 26.0.Results: In total, 221 (96.1%) respondents were female. The average age was 32.2 years, and the average clinical experience was 3.5 years; 196 participants (85.2%) were general nurses. Patient safety competency (β = .44, p < .001), awareness of the importance of safety management (β = .31, p < .001), and medication error experience (β = -.15, p = .002) all had statistically significant associations with patient safety management activities. The explanatory power of these variables for patient safety management activities was 50.7%. Conclusion: This study confirmed that patient safety competency, awareness of the importance of patient safety management, and experience with medication errors significantly influenced patient safety management activities.