Patient safety culture in intensive care units: the perception of health professionals

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate how patient safety culture is perceived by professionals working in Intensive Care Units. This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 283 health professionals from reference hospitals in the state of Ceará. The data collection used the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire, which seeks to evaluate safety attitudes in professional activity. Among hospitals, the questionnaire showed scores ranging from 63.4 to 71.5, a positive score being equal to or greater than 75. Therefore, no institution achieved positive results. Among the six domains of the questionnaire, “Safety climate”, “Management perception” and “Working conditions” presented the lowest averages. Thus, this research verified the need to encourage safety culture in several aspects, mainly regarding managerial attitudes towards patient safety and working conditions.