Views on patient safety by operations managers in somatic hospital care: a qualitative analysis

Healthcare outcome is to achieve optimal health for
each patient. It is a well-known phenomenon that
patients suffer from care injuries. Operations managers
have difficulties in seeing that the relationship
between safety culture, values and attitudes affects
the medical care to the detriment of the patient. The
aim was to describe the views on patient safety by
operations managers and the establishment of patient
safety and safety culture in somatic hospital care.
Four open questions were answered by 29 operations
managers in somatic hospital care. Data analysis was
carried out by deductive qualitative content analysis.
Operations managers found production to be the
most important goal, and patient safety was linked to
this basic mission. Safety work meant to achieve optimal
health outcomes for each patient in a continuous
development of operations. This was accomplished
by pursuing a high level of competence
among employees, having a functioning report system
and preventing medical errors. Safety culture
was mentioned to a smaller extent. The primary target
of patient safety work by the operations managers
was improving care quality which resulted in fewer
complications and shorter care time. A change in
emphasis to primary safety work is necessary. To accomplish
this increased knowledge of communication,
teamwork and clinical decision making are required.