Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture of Dentistry Students and Dentists in a Faculty of Dentistry

Recently, the importance of patient safety culture in dentistry has been discussed. This study aims to evaluate the perceptions of dentists and dentistry students about patient safety culture. The population of this descriptive cross-sectional study consisted of senior lecturers and research assistants (N=109) and 4th and 5th year dentistry students (N=197) at the Faculty of Dentistry Hospital. 107 dentists and 177 students, agreed to voluntarily participate in the study. Data were collected by using Turkish version of the “Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture”. SPSS 22 program was used to evaluate the data. The mean of the total score of the Scale was found as "moderate" (X=2.81). Overall, "teamwork within units" had the highest average (X=3.16), "frequency of event reported " had the lowest score (X=2.41). Dentists had a higher average than students in all dimensions except for "teamwork across hospital units," "hospital handoffs and transitions," and "staff." 72.1% of dentists and 66.7% of students have not received any courses or training on patient safety issues. Overall, 83.7% of dentists and 92% of students have not reported any medical errors so far. Participants' perceptions of the patient safety culture were “moderate”. It is suggested that hospital managers should establish a more positive patient safety culture.