The Hospital Universitario de Móstoles is leading and coordinating a multicenter study on patient safety, with the participation of six other public hospitals in the Community of Madrid. The primary objective is to understand the perception of patients and nursing professionals to implement concrete improvements in healthcare. In the initial phase, which established the project's baseline situation, 1,469 patients and 664 nursing professionals participated.
In addition to the center in Móstoles, the first part of the project, titled "Patient Safety: A multicenter study on the perception of patients and Nursing professionals and the impact of an improvement intervention," includes the Hospital Universitario Severo Ochoa, the Hospital Universitario Infanta Cristina, the Hospital Universitario del Tajo, and the Hospital Asociado Universitario Virgen de la Poveda. Throughout October, the Fundación Hospital Alcorcón and the Hospital Universitario de Getafe are set to join, completing the network of seven Madrid public centers.
The study is conducted in hospitalization wards, excluding pediatrics and psychiatry, and addresses patient safety from two complementary perspectives: that of hospitalized adult patients and that of Nursing professionals, including nurses and auxiliary nursing care technicians.
To assess patient experience, the "Questionnaire on patient perception of healthcare service safety" developed by the Ministry of Health is used. For professionals, the validated Spanish version of the "Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture" (HSOPS) is employed, comprising 42 items grouped into 12 dimensions of safety culture.
The participation in this first phase has provided a comprehensive overview of the situation across the initial five centers and specific data for each hospital. At the Hospital Universitario de Móstoles, 413 patients and 252 nursing professionals contributed to the project's overall results.
“"The value of this project lies in uniting evaluation, participation, and intervention: it starts with rigorous diagnosis and translates its results into concrete actions. Furthermore, it integrates the perspectives of patients and professionals, reinforces the role of safety champions, and fosters collaboration between Nursing Management, care units, and the Risk Management Functional Unit."
The next stage, commencing in October and lasting six months, will focus on interventions to apply the evaluation results to clinical practice. Structured and participatory safety rounds will be implemented every two weeks, led by unit safety champions, involving professionals and patients to identify risks and propose improvements.
The project also includes the use of identification vests during medication preparation to minimize avoidable interruptions and protect this particularly critical moment in the care process.
Upon completion of the six-month intervention, the evaluation will be repeated to assess changes and compare the situation before and after the interventions. For patients, two independent samples will be compared. For professionals, a paired pre-post design will be used, employing an anonymous alphanumeric code to link each participant's responses before and after the intervention, ensuring confidentiality at all times.
The objective is to determine if the developed interventions contribute to improving the perception and culture of safety, and based on the results, identify measures that can be consolidated and transferred to clinical practice.
This initiative is an evolution of previous work initiated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital Universitario de Móstoles, focusing on patient safety culture among the ICU nursing staff. That study involved 65 professionals, with a 98.5% response rate, yielding an average score of 7.62 out of 10 for patient safety. The highest-rated dimensions were teamwork within the unit and organizational learning and continuous improvement, while areas for further work were identified, such as communication, non-punitive response to errors, institutional support, and care transitions.
This prior study, published in the journal Enfermería Intensiva, served as the starting point for the current, larger-scale project, which aims to unite evaluation, participation, and intervention to enhance safety in healthcare.
