Zarei M - MSc Student of Health Care Management, Hospital Management Expert, Research Center for Patients Safety, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Emadi F - BSc of Nursing, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Marvdasht Shahid Motahary, Educational Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Marvdasht, Iran.
Fallah K - MSc of Educational Management, Risk Management Expert, Marvdasht Shahid Motahary, Educational Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Marvdasht, Iran.
Zarei H - MSc Student of Medical Education, Hospital Manager, Marvdasht Shahid Motahary, Educational Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Marvdasht, Iran.

Objectives:Improving the safety culture has been implemented as a key strategy to improve patient safety in health care systems. Several surveys have shown that assessment of patient safety attitude and examining to what extent these attitudes exist could be used as an effective tool for promoting patient safety and such data meet the managers’ information needs over time. Thus, considering the importance of patient safety as a basic principle in improving the quality of clinical services and patient satisfaction, this study was aimed to examine nurse’s attitudes towards the safety culture. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study the study population included nurses who were working in Marvdasht Shahid Motahary hospital, 2013. The sample size was selected by using a stratified randomization method as 114. The data were collected through HSOPSC questionnaire that has been introduced by the Health Care Research and Quality agency in 2004. The questionnaire is composed of eight parts. One part is about demographic and career information and other parts are about different dimensions of the patient safety culture. The collected data were then analyzed using the SPSS software and descriptive statistical tests. Results: The obtained results showed that the manager and supervisor expectations and actions in order to promote patient safety and the overall understanding of patient safety dimensions received the highest rating. On the other hand, staffing and non-punitive response to errors dimensions received the lowest score among the 12 dimensions of patient safety culture. Nonetheless, 44% of the studied population considered the patient safety status in their units as acceptable. However, 39% of the population had not reported any errors in the past 12 months. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, the need to improve the safety culture at different dimensions seems necessary. Also, the culture of error reporting without any fear of censure or punishment should be institutionalized in future.

Attitude, Error, Patient safety, Safety culture