Adapting and validating the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) for nursing students (HSOPS-NS): a new measure of Patient Safety Climate

Abstract

Background: Patient Safety Culture and Patient Safety Climate (PSC) are different factors. PSC is the shared perception that is held within a hospital’s area or unit at aspecific moment in time. This measure is necessary for designing activities for promoting and improving safety. It must include the perception of all the agents involved, including future nurses throughout their patient safety education. Objectives: The aim was to adapt and validate a new version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS), targeted specifically at nursing students. It provides a new comprehensive and more complete measure of PSC that contributes to improving patient safety. Methods: Data were obtained from 654 undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students. PSC was tested using factor analyses and structural equation modeling. In order to facilitate the improvement of PSC, we examined differences in climate strength across different academic groups using the Rwg(j) and ICC measures of interrater agreement. Results: Factor Analyses confirmed a five-factor solution that explained between 52.45% and 54.75% of the variance. The model was found to have adequate fit χ2 (5)=14.333, p=0.014; CFI=0.99; RMSEA=0.05. Cronbach’s alphas for PSC were between0.74 and 0.77. “Teamwork within units” was the highest rated dimension, and “Staffing” the lowest rated. Medium-to-high scores were obtained for PSC. The median of Rwg (j) was high in the five dimensions of the PSC survey, supporting the idea of shared climate perceptions (0.81-0.96) among undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students. Conclusions: HSOPS-NS is a useful and versatile tool for measuring the level and strength of PSC. It screens knowledge regarding patient safety in clinical practice placements and compares nursing students’ perceptions of the strength of PSC. Weaknesses perceived in relation to PSC help implement changes in patient safety learning.