Leadership and patient safety culture: perceptions of professionals in a university hospital

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the perceptions of health professionals as for patient safety culture in its interface with leadership. Method: Descriptive and exploratory research, with a quantitative approach. It was conducted between April and June 2014 in three units of a university hospital in Paraná, Brazil. The sample consisted of 76 professionals from the multidisciplinary team, who filled the questionnaire "Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture". The analysis was conducted through descriptive statistics related to the dimensions addressing safety culture mediated by hospital leadership in the instrument mentioned above. Results: Most participants showed a perception of safety culture favorable to their immediate leadership and unfavorable to executive hospital management. Conclusion: It is concluded that investment is needed to promote the safety culture among the executive management in the institution under analysis.