ABSTRACT
Almost all hospitals have diagnostics units. These units are of great importance since they have complex and expensive equipment and experienced staff. The goal of this study was to assess diagnostic units approach to safety at GUMS hospitals in 2004. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data collected with a two part checklist. The first part included demographic characteristics of the studied population and the second part was related to diagnostic unit's safety and status. Following a pilot study, reliability and validity of the checklist were determined, and final questionnaire was released. The safety level of hospitals in this study was classified according to a 3-level scale: Good/Acceptable, Intermediate, and Weak. 1]Overall Radiology unit's safety was at [Intermediate] level. In other words, five hospitals has [Intermediate] safety conditions and only one hospital could be classified as [Good]. 2] Laboratories' safety was rated [Intermediate] in general with four hospitals being at [intermediate] level and two at [good] level. 3] In general, diagnostic units' safety received [intermediate] score [i.e. five [intermediate] and one [good] level.] According to this study, overall diagnostic units' safety of GUMS hospitals seems to be [intermediate]. Thus there is a need to pay more attention to the importance of safety for patients, visitors and personnel and to develop safety standards and principles in hospitals