Improving Patient Safety Culture During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Taiwan
Journal
Frontiers in Public Health
Journal Volume
10
Journal Volume
10
Pages
889870
Start Page
889870
ISSN
22962565
Date Issued
2022-07-12
Author(s)
Abstract
Background and Aim: Patient safety culture attitude is strongly linked to patient safety outcomes. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, pandemic prevention has become the priority of hospital staff. However, few studies have explored the changes in patient safety culture among hospital staff that have occurred during the pandemic. The present study compared the safety attitudes, emotional exhaustion (EE), and work–life balance (WLB) of hospital staff in the early (2020) and late (2021) stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and explored the effects of EE and WLB on patient safety attitudes in Taiwan. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the Joint Commission of Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Survey, including the six-dimension Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) and EE and WLB scales, were used for data collection. Results: This study included a total of 706 hospital employees from a district hospital in Taipei City. The respondents' scores in each SAQ sub-dimension (except for stress recognition) increased non-significantly from 2020 to 2021, whereas their EE and WLB scores improved significantly (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). The results of hierarchical regression analysis indicated that although a respondent's WLB score could predict their scores in each SAQ sub-dimension (except for stress recognition), EE was the most important factor affecting the respondents' attitudes toward patient safety culture during the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: In the post-pandemic, employees' attitudes toward safety climate, job satisfaction, and perception of Management changed from negative to positive. Additionally, both EE and WLB are key factors influencing patient safety culture. The present study can be used as a reference for hospital managers to formulate crisis response strategies.
Subjects
COVID-19
emotional exhaustion
patient safety
patient safety culture
work life balance
Publisher
Frontiers Media S.A.
Type
journal article