Quality Of Care And Patient Safety From The Perspectives Of Patients And Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Background: Patient safety is one of the overarching goals of patient care and quality management. Healthcare system has rapidly transformed in recent years. A recent Report of Quality and Patient Safety have nevertheless highlighted decreasing levels of patient safety and quality culture among healthcare professionals. This indicates the need to assess the quality of care and patient safety from the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals. This study aimed to examine patients’ and healthcare professionals’ (HCPs’) perspectives on overall quality of care and patient safety standards and which demographic characteristics are related to the overall quality of care and patient safety. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Data were collected by two items: overall quality of care and patient safety, incorporated in the Revised Humane Caring Scale, and Healthcare Professional Core Competency Instrument. Questionnaires were distributed to patients (n = 600) and healthcare professionals (nurses and physicians) (n = 246) in three departments (medical, surgical and obstetrics and gynecology) at two hospitals in Makkah, KSA from January to July 2023. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used for data analys[1]is. Results: A total of 367 patients and 140 healthcare professionals completed the questionnaires, representing response rates of 61.2% and 56.9%, respectively. Overall, quality of care and patient safety were perceived as high, with the HCPs rating quality of care (M = 4.36; SD = 0.720) and patient safety (M = 4.39; SD = 0.675) slightly higher than the patients did (M = 4.23; SD = 0.706), (M = 4.22; SD = 0.709). The findings indicated an association between hospital variables and overall quality of care (OR = 0.095; 95% CI = 0.016–0.551; p = 0.009) and patient safety (OR = 0.153; 95% CI = 0.027–0.854; p = 0.032) among HCPs. Additionally, an association between the admission/work area and participants’ perspectives on the quality of care (patients, OR = 0.257; 95% CI = 0.072–0.916; p = 0.036; HCPs, OR = 0.093; 95% CI = 0.009–0.959; p = 0.046) was found. Conclusions: The perspectives of both patients and HCPs showed that they viewed both quality of care and patient safety as excellent, with slight differences, indicating a high level of patient satisfaction and competent healthcare delivery professionals. Such perspectives can provide meaningful and complementary insights on improving the overall standards of healthcare delivery systems.