Assessing Patient Safety Culture and Adverse Events Reporting Among Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study in Ghana

Patient safety is a global concern for both health professionals and the public. Research indicates that assessing patient safety culture can help improve patient safety outcomes. Nursing care strategically positions nurses at the center of patient safety promotion, and their proximity to patients makes them the drivers of patient safety. The actions of frontline staff in healthcare organizations have a notable influence on healthcare outcomes, particularly reporting of adverse events. This study aimed to evaluate the actions of frontline staff on adverse event reporting among nurses in three hospitals in the Savannah Region, Ghana.

A quantitative cross-sectional method was used to gather data from 210 respondents across three hospitals. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical linear regression.

The findings revealed that teamwork within units had a good positive rating score of 82.9%. This was followed by teamwork across hospital units (68.0%) and handover of care (69.8%). Overall, nurses demonstrated a negative attitude toward adverse events reporting (37.3%). Furthermore, enacting safety practices that had a significant relationship with adverse events reporting were teamwork across units (r = .24, p < 0.001) and handover and transition of patient care (r = .19, p < 0.001). Again, the significant predictor of adverse events reporting was teamwork across units (β = .20, p < 0.001).

Nurses’ perceptions of patient safety culture within and across hospital units as well as handover of patient care were positive. Though the attitude of nurses toward adverse event reporting was low, teamwork across hospital units significantly predicted adverse event reporting. Therefore, frontline staff should continually strengthen teamwork processes and handover practices to achieve the best healthcare outcomes.