Metrics matter

@#There is limited evidence to substantially describe the state of Patient Safety (PS) in the Philippines.1,2 With most publications reflecting respondent-based assessments of institutional patient safety culture, patient-sensitive and records-based indicators are scarce.3 Despite the Institute of Medicine’s4 call to action to address preventable errors and the publication of patient safety indicators5, there has been slow progress in patient safety in the country.

Safety culture and safety attitudes of nurses in the National University Hospital

Purpose@#Patient safety issues pose a great burden worldwide. However, there is still inadequate data on the burden of Patient Safety issues in the Philippines to specifically address institutional and national concerns through directed programs, policies, and interventions. This current study aims to describe the safety culture and attitudes of nurses of the National University Hospital in Manila, Philippines.@*Design@#This study used a non-experimental design that assessed the safety culture and safety attitudes of nurses from the general units of the National University Hospital (NUH) using two assessment tools: the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (AHRQ-HSOPS) and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire- Short Form (SAQ). Ethical approval was granted from both the university and the hospital ethics review boards.@*Methods@#Stratified random sampling was used to ensure representation of staff nurses and nurse administrators. A self-administered survey that included the two tools was translated to Filipino and administered to 200 nurses. Percent of positive responses were obtained to describe the safety culture and attitudes as prescribed by toolkits of AHRQ-HSOPS and SAQ.@*Findings@#The overall survey response rate yielded 86.77%. Nurses from the National University Hospital displayed both positive Safety Culture and Safety Attitudes based on AHRQ-HSOPS and SAQ. Dimensions that garnered the highest positive perceptions in Safety Culture were Organizational Learning and Teamwork while the lowest were Hospital Handoffs and Non-Punitive Response to Error. On the other hand, dimensions on Safety Awareness that received the highest positive perceptions were Teamwork and Safety Climate while the lowest was Stress Recognition. Perceptions of nurses also varied significantly across ranks in position titles and work settings.@*Conclusions@#There are identifiable dimensions that can be improved in both Safety Culture and Safety Attitude that can have a positive impact on nurses and potentially impact nurse-patient and hospital-sensitive outcomes through hospital-wide improvement programs.

Work environment of nurses in the Philippines: A preliminary study

@#<p style="text-align: justify;">Work environment has been described as an important factor in the job satisfaction of nurses and their quality of service provided. However, little is known of the present work environment of Filipino nurses in the country. This study used a cross-sectional design to describe work environment variables affecting Filipino nurses; determine the degree of nurses' job satisfaction;, and determine their intention to remain in their present work environment. A self-administered survey was developed by the study team and was distributed during the PNA national conference   through the Chapter Presidents. This   study discovered   that the lowest positive responses were in the Physiologic  and  Safety  Needs  but  despite  this  result,  nurses  reported  high  job satisfaction and intend to remain in their present work environment.</p>