Patient safety culture of nurses in public and private hospitals in northwestern Saudi Arabia

Several studies have been published focusing on the patient safety culture of nurses around the world and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, comparative studies between the safety cultures of nurses in public and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia have not been updated yet since 2008, more than a decade ago. This study determined the patient safety cultures of nurses in public and private hospitals in a city in northwestern Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study designed was used and the survey tool was derived from the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. It was distributed to nurses both in public and private hospitals. A total of 441 nurses from four public and three private hospitals participated in the study. The study was conducted from December 2018 to March 2019. Along with the 12 composites of the Patient Safety Culture survey tool, there was no significant difference between the responses of the participants from public and private hospitals except for two composites which are the 9th composite (Teamwork Across Units) and 11th composite (Handoff and Transitions) having a p value of 0.899 and 0.989, respectively. Clearly, there are differences in some aspects of hospital guidelines between private and public hospitals. The difference in management and operational strategies between these two different institutions affects how their processes flow, thus affecting patient care provisions and safety as well. Both private and public hospitals in Saudi Arabia uphold and abide to the same guidelines on patient safety culture. Nurses are aware, regardless of the classification of their hospital, towards patient safety standards. (C) 2019 The Authors.