What are hospital nurses' strengths and weaknesses in patient safety competence? Findings from three Korean hospitals

Objective: To examine hospital nurses' patient safety competencies and the association between these competencies and safety climate.

Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

Setting: Three teaching hospitals in Seoul, Korea.

Participants: In total, 459 nurses from general adult nursing care units, intensive care units or operating rooms (response rate = 87.4%).

Method: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to measure patient safety competency. Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine relationships between patient safety competency and safety climate.

Main outcome measure s: Patient safety competency scores ('teamwork', 'communication', 'managing safety risks', 'human and environmental factors', 'adverse event recognition' and 'safety culture' dimensions) and perceived safety climate.

Results: The mean patient safety competency score was 3.3 (SD = 0.4) out of 5.0; 396 nurses (86.3%) rated their competency as above average. Among subscales, 'managing safety risks' scores were the highest, and 'teamwork' scores were the lowest. Patient safety competency differed significantly by participants' age, educational level, clinical experience and position. Patient safety competency was higher in older nurses with master's or higher degrees and clinical experience of longer duration. Nurse managers' scores were higher than those of staff nurses. Safety climate was perceived as moderate. After adjusting for other individual and organizational characteristics, patient safety competency was positively associated with safety climate perception.

Conclusions: Nurses' safety competency was rated as moderate. In particular, nurses lacked confidence in teamwork. Nurses with higher safety competency perceived safety climate more positively. Efforts emphasizing teamwork to enhance nurses' safety competency should be prioritized, thereby contributing to improvement of safety climates.