Objectives: To measure attitudes of health personnel towards patient safety, and to determine how the concept of patient safety varies between maternal health centers and types of health care personnel.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study included 35 primary heath centers in three governorates in Egypt. The subjects comprised all managers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and technicians.
Results: The overall mean for all questions and respondents was 3.89+/-0.59 (scale 1-5). The safety climate mean was 3.64+/-0.67. The percentage of respondents viewing the safety climate as positive was 36%. Only 7% of respondents had received feedback after referral of a case of severe pre-eclampsia.
Conclusion: The concept of patient safety in the centers studied is not as strong as desirable for the provision of reliable health care. The culture is one of a penalizing nature with suppressed error reporting, lack of proper communication, and feedback failure.