Patient safety

• The safety culture is part of the corporate culture. It shapes the successful establishment of measures to improve patient safety in the hospital. The safety culture makes a significant contribution to the quality and safety of patient care.
  
• According to The Joint Commission, one of the eleven principles of a safety culture is to assess the organization's safety culture by conducting employee surveys. The Joint Commission(www.jointcommission.org) is committed to promoting safety and quality in the healthcare sector.
  

Assessing the organization's safety culture by surveying employees

• To this end, the Quality Management and Patient Safety departments at the USB, together with University Medicine Switzerland and the university hospitals in Geneva, Lausanne, Bern and Zurich, launched the Safety Culture project in 2022.
  
• The perception of the safety culture by employees in the healthcare sector is referred to as the "safety climate". The level of the safety climate will be assessed using an internationally validated survey in 2023.
  
• The survey covers five subject areas (working environment, leadership, communication, reporting incidents and patient safety) and makes it possible to identify areas in which the safety culture at the USB can be strengthened.