Application of Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) in Adult Intensive Care Units: a cross-sectional study

PurposeTo achieve a positive safety culture, staff perception of safety must be frequently measured. There are several active and reactive methods to use to measure safety cultures such as near-miss occurrence, accidental data collection, measuring behavior, self-report method, and safety questionnaires. The safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) tool was used to measure safety culture. This tool is widely used in literature and among researchers and has been used and validated in middle eastern cultures. In addition, it has a validated Arabic version. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using anonymous and random sampling. I surveyed all ICU staff working in all the adult ICUs in two of the major hospitals in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The short version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire was used to assess participants attitudes towards safety culture. The study involved all healthcare providers working in Adult ICU. ResultsThe study occurred over a three-week period in March 2019. A total of 82 completed questionnaires were returned which represented a response rate of 82%. On average, the domain that scored the highest number of positive responses was Job satisfaction with 68.5%, followed by teamwork climate 67.8%, then working conditions 60.1%, 57.1% safety climate, then preparation of management with 53.4%, and finally 46% in Stress recognition. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean SAQ score and the educational level of the participants. Participants with bachelors degrees scored a mean of 50.17 compared to participants hold diploma degrees who scored a mean of 68.81 (P=0.02). Moreover, a significant difference was found between the mean SAQ score and participants specialties. Attending/Staff Physician mean score was 36.40, Nurse Manager/Charge Nurse scored 39.78, and Respiratory therapist mean score was 47.88, compared to mean score of 62.27 for Registered Nurse, and Respiratory supervisor 67.0 (P=0.04). In addition, 79.2% of the respondents did not report any incidents in the last 12 months. ConclusionsThe result of the study shows an unsatisfying level of safety culture among healthcare staff in ICUs. The importance of this study is to establish a baseline for safety climate in these hospitals and specifically ICUs. In addition, by exposing the system weaknesses it helps the administration to strengthen and improve patient care. By decreasing workload and job stress, studies show they have a positive association with increasing job performance.