Nurses' Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture in Three Hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

PURPOSE: To assess the present patient safety culture of three general hospitals in Saudi Arabia, as perceived by nurses. DESIGN: This study utilized a descriptive, cross-sectional design. METHODS: A convenience sample of 351 nurses working in three general hospitals in the central region of Saudi Arabia was surveyed in this study using the Hospital Survey of Patients' Safety Culture (HSOPSC) from October 2016 to April 2017. RESULTS: From the 12 composites of the HSOPSC, the nurses perceived only the following two patient safety areas as strengths: teamwork within units and organizational learning-continuous improvement. Six areas of patient safety were identified as weaknesses, namely overall perception of patient safety, handoffs and transitions, communication openness, staffing, frequency of events reported, and nonpunitive response to errors. Nationality, educational attainment, hospital, length of service in the hospital, work area or unit, length of service in the current work area or unit, current position, and direct patient contact or interaction were significant predictors of the nurses' perceived patient safety culture. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in this study clarify the current status of patient safety culture in three hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The present findings should be considered by policymakers, hospital leaders, and nurse executives in creating interventions aimed at improving the patient safety culture in hospitals. A multidimensional network intervention targeting the different dimensions of patient safety culture and involving different organizational levels should be implemented to improve patient safety.

Factors Influencing Arab Nursing Students' Attitudes toward Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability and their Inclusion in Nursing Curricula.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the factors influencing the attitudes of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students toward climate change and environmental sustainability and the inclusion of these concepts in the nursing curricula of four Arab countries. METHOD: A convenience sample of 1,059 students from four Arab countries was surveyed using the Environmental Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey-2 (SANS-2) questionnaire in this descriptive-comparative study. RESULTS: The majority of the respondents exhibited positive attitudes toward the five items of SANS-2, with "Environmental sustainability is an important issue for nursing" receiving the lowest mean score and "Issues about climate change should be included in the nursing curriculum" receiving the highest mean score. Saudi students had more positive attitudes toward environmental sustainability in health care compared with students from Iraq, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories. Country of residence, type of community, and knowledge about environmental issues and their impact on health in any nursing course were significant factors that influenced attitudes toward environmental sustainability. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of climate change and environmental sustainability in nursing curricula in the Arab region was emphasized by the findings. Including environmental sustainability practices in nursing education will help student nurses develop critical thinking and skills in the adaptive delivery of health care, especially when resources are scarce.

Psychometric assessment of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version for nurses in Saudi Arabia.

AIM: To assess the psychometric properties of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version for Saudi nurses. BACKGROUND: Evidence showed that a high level of spiritual climate in the workplace is associated with increased productivity and performance, enhanced emotional intelligence, organisational commitment and job satisfaction among nurses. METHOD: A convenient sample of 165 Saudi nurses was surveyed in this descriptive, cross-sectional study. Cronbach's α and intraclass correlation coefficient of the 2 week test-retest scores were computed to establish reliability. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to support the validity of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version. RESULTS: The Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version manifested excellent content validity. Exploratory factor analysis supported a single factor with an explained variance of 73.2%. The Cronbach's α values of the scale ranged from .79 to .88, while the intraclass correlation coefficient value was .90. The perceived spiritual climate was associated with the respondents' hospital, gender, age and years of experience. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study support the sound psychometric properties of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version can be used by nurse managers to assess the nurses' perception of the spiritual climate in any clinical area. This process can lead to spiritually centred interventions, thereby ensuring a clinical climate that accepts and respects different spiritual beliefs and practices.