[Patient safety culture in Family practice residents of Galicia].

OBJECTIVE

To determine the views held by Family practice (FP) residents on the different dimensions of patient safety, in order to identify potential areas for improvement.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

LOCATION

Seven FP of Galicia teaching units.

PARTICIPANTS

182 FP residents who completed the Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire.

MEASUREMENTS

The Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire was chosen because it is translated, validated, and adapted to the Spanish model of Primary Care. The results were grouped into 12 composites assessed by the mentioned questionnaire. The study variables were the socio-demographic dimensions of the questionnaire, as well as occupational/professional variables: age, gender, year of residence, and teaching unit of FP of Galicia.

RESULTS

The "Organisational learning" and "Teamwork" items were considered strong areas. However, the "Patient safety and quality issues", "Information exchange with other settings", and "Work pressure and pace" items were considered areas with significant potential for improvement. First-year residents obtained the best results and the fourth-year ones the worst.

CONCLUSIONS

The results may indicate the need to include basic knowledge on patient safety in the teaching process of FP residents in order to increase and consolidate the fragile patient safety culture described in this study.