Evaluation of Safety from the Perspective of Patients Hospitalized in Medical and Surgical Wards

Introduction: Patient feedback on safety-related factors provides valuable preventative information to manage safety and improve hospital care quality. Objective: This study aims to determine the perspective of hospitalized patients toward safety. These patients were admitted to the medical and surgical wards in two hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: This research is a descriptive-analytical study. A total of 290 patients hospitalized in the medical and surgical wards of two hospitals in Tehran were recruited between April and November 2020. They were selected using a stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. Participants were requested to evaluate and report the safety factors using the patient measure of safety questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using the independent t-test, variance analysis, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: Fifty-three percent of the participants in this study were male, with a mean age of 50.75±17.36 years. Approximately one-fourth of the patients had cancer, with 35.1% suffering for 1 to 6 months. The patients’ most and least favorite perspectives mean scores were toward dignity and respect (3.80±1.07) and access to resources (3.31±0.66), respectively. Moreover, patients’ views on safety were related to their disease type (P=0.021). Conclusion: Behavior accompanying respect and dignity leads to effective communication with patients, builds trust between the patient and the care provider, and benefits the patient’s perception of safe care. Continuous monitoring of patient feedback on satisfaction with the quality of services can reveal safety-related shortcomings and deficiencies.