Assessing Building Blocks for Patient Safety Culture—a Quantitative Assessment of Saudi Arabia

PURPOSE: The study analyzes staffs’ perception of a safety culture and their knowledge of safety measures in the hospitals of Saudi Arabia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted by considering six different public hospitals from Arar city, and by recruiting 503 nurses. Building blocks of patient safety culture were measured through survey questions. RESULTS: The highest positive rating (81%) was received by both “people support one another in this unit” and “in this unit, people treat each other with respect.” Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting patient safety was rated neutrally (n = 283; 56%) with an average mean score of 3.17±0.50, which suggested a neutral response by participants. Organizational learning, along with continuous improvement, was positively rated (n = 406; 81%) with an average mean score of 3.93±0.61. CONCLUSION: It demonstrated that participant nurses neither disagree nor agree on the level of patient safety culture prevailing in their hospital setting.