Patients' Perceptions of Safety of the Health Care in a Large Hospital Institution in Barranquilla, Colombia

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the patient's perception of the safety of the health care received in a Highly Complex Hospital Institution.

METHODS: A questionnaire designed and validated to measure the patient's perception of safety in health care in a hospital setting was used. The questionnaire included 24 general questions and one specific question to determine the patient's feeling of security in the health care received during hospitalization, structured in three parts: 1. referring to the general experience during the last hospital stay; 2. aimed at detecting problems during hospitalization; 3. assessment of the experience of a clinical error (if the patient had suffered one). The specific question on perceived sense of security during the care process had a Likert scale of 7 options, ranging from "Very secure" to "Very insecure".

RESULTS: The perception of security of the health care received among the respondents was high in 84%, medium in 13% and low in 3%. Of the 328 participants surveyed, 16 (4.9%) reported having suffered at least one incident during the hospital stay, of which half reported that it was resolved quickly and satisfactorily and 44% stated that the health personnel allowed them to participate in the decision-making process regarding how to resolve the clinical error or problem. Sixty-nine percent said that they received sufficient information from the health personnel and 75% that they were told that measures would be taken to prevent recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS: Most of those surveyed declared having a feeling of safety in the care provided at the hospital, most of them related this perception to the behavior of health personnel in general.