Patient Safety Culture In A Private Indian Dental Institute- A Pilot Study
Abstract
Arun Singh Thakur*, Shashidhar Acharya, Deepak Singhal, Nivedita Rewal, Vinay Kumar Bhardwaj
Context: Patient safety in dentistry is a critical dimension of healthcare. Dentistry cannot remain on sidelines on the issue of patient safety. Aims: The objective of this study was to describe the patient safety culture among faculty, students (postgraduates, undergraduates and interns) and dental assistants in a private Indian dental Institute. Settings and Design: A survey on patient safety culture developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was used to measure attitudes of faculty, students and dental assistants working in the clinics of a South Indian Dental Institute, towards the patient safety. Methods and Material: The questionnaire was distributed among faculty, students and dental assistants with printed instructions for completion. Statistical analysis used: SPSS 11.5 was used for statistical analysis. Percentages of responses were calculated for each of the 12 dimensions for safety culture survey among the groups. Item total likert scores were calculated for each dimension. Results: 86% response rate was seen in this survey. ‘Overall Perceptions of safety’ was reported positive by 59% of the respondents. 75% of the respondents reported positive for the category of ‘adverse effects reporting’. ‘Supervisor expectation and actions promoting patient safety’ were reported positive by 65% of respondents. 64% respondents reported positively for ‘Organisational learning/continuous process’. ‘Team works within units’ were reported positive by 71% of individuals. ‘Communication openness’ and ‘Feedback and communication about errors’ were reported positive by 76% and 68% of individuals respectively. ‘Management support’ and ‘team work across units’ were reported positive by 64% and 60% respectively. Categories of ‘Non punitive response to errors’, ‘Staffing’ and ‘transition of patients’ were reported positive by only 26%, 37% and 44% of respondents.Significant differences were seen for age for the dimensions of Organisational learning/continuous process and staffing (p<0.03).Dimensions of ‘Teamwork within units’, ‘Communication openness’ and ‘Feedback and communication about errors’ were significantly higher among males. (p<0.01). Conclusions: Positive perception regarding patient safety was less amongst interns and undergraduate students as compared to the faculty.
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