Healthcare workers’ perception of their awareness, skills and attitudes towards clinical quality and patient safety in an acute care hospital in Singapore

Objective: Healthcare institutions have taken efforts to communicate to their healthcare workers (HCWs) about the concepts and importance of clinical quality and patient safety (CQPS). However, implementing interventions to promote pro CQPS behaviour without fully evaluating the factors that direct such behaviour may be costly and counter-productive. This study aimed to investigate HCWs’ perception of their competence and attitudes towards CQPS. It also looked into their perceived behaviour pattern to unsafe practices and usefulness of the different avenues to improve CQPS behavior in the hospital.Methods: A survey was conducted among doctors, nurses and allied health workers over two months in 2017. Paper surveys were distributed during departmental staff meetings. Participation was strictly voluntary, and responses were de-identified and kept confidential. Responses were measured using a five-point Likert scale. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results: The participation rate was 90.2% (541/600). Of the respondents, 88.0% and 85.6% agreed that CQPS was important and relevant to their work respectively. However, when asked if they execute a series of pro-CQPS behaviour, results showed a knowledge-behaviour disconnect. Only 36.2% will intervene when they see unsafe practice and 27.2% see the importance of reporting near miss events.Conclusions: While respondents are generally aware of the importance and relevance of CQPS, this is not reflected in their behaviour as they are unmotivated and show disinterest in practising pro-CQPS behaviour. Further studies are needed to address the factors associated with this knowledge-behaviour disconnect.