Patient safety culture in Hungarian hospitals.

PURPOSE

The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) is a rigorously designed tool for measuring inpatient safety culture. The purpose of this paper is to develop a cross-cultural HSOPSC for Hungary and determine its strengths and weaknesses.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The original US version was translated and adapted using existing guidelines. Healthcare workers (=371) including nurses, physicians and other healthcare staff from six Hungarian hospitals participated. Answers were analyzed using exploratory factor analyses and reliability tests.

FINDINGS

Positive responses in all dimensions were lower in Hungary than in the USA. Half the participants considered their work area "acceptable" regarding patient safety. Healthcare staff worked in "crisis mode," trying to accomplish too much and too quickly. The authors note that a "blame culture" does not facilitate patient safety improvements in Hungary.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The results provide valuable information for promoting a more positive patient safety culture in Hungary and for evaluating future strategies to improve patient safety.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Introducing a validated scale to measure patient safety culture in Hungary improves healthcare quality.