Evaluation in primary care professionals: the patient's safety culture

Introduction: Every day, millions of patients are safely and satisfactorily cared for in Primary Care centers (PC), although this care brings with it along a number of risks of involuntary harm or errors. Objectives: To describe the perception of Western Health District professionals in Almeria, regarding patient safety based on a translated and validated instrument for primary care services in Spain. Methodology: Transversal descriptive study. A sample of 216 self-completed questionnaires were obtained and sent to the District Quality Sub-Directorate. Statistical analysis was conducted on the characteristics of the responding professionals and the dimensions of the questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the professionals was 48 years and 66.70% were female. Their care activity had been carried out for a mean of 19 years (SD=9). The main findings regarding aspects such as patient safety and quality have been presented ((x) over bar = 4.08; IC 95%: 4.00-4.16). The dimensions receiving the worst responses in the Western Health District were "Error communication" ((x) over bar = 1.97; IC 95%: 1.85-2.09), "Patient care follow up" ((x) over bar = 1.88; IC 95%: 1.76-1.99), "Clear communication" ((x) over bar = 2.19; IC 95%: 2.05-2.32) and "Workload and work rhythm" ((x) over bar = 2.42; IC 95%: 2.29-2.54). Conclusions: Based on the information generated by professionals in Primary Care Centers, these results may allow for the design of patient care improvement strategies in the province of Almeria. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.