title: The characteristics of patient safety culture in Japan, Taiwan and the United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality and safety issues are receiving growing attention. Patient safety culture (PSC) plays an important role in patient safety. The characteristics of PSC in various countries, each with a different set of values, have not been determined sufficiently. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of PSC in Japan, Taiwan and the U.S.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Japan and Taiwan using the Hospital Survey on PSC (HSOPS) questionnaire developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Data from Japan and Taiwan were also compared with the U.S. "2010 HSOPS Comparative Database" provided by AHRQ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Valid response rates in Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. were 66.5% (6,963/10,466), 85.7% (10,019/11,692) and 35.2% (291,341/827,424), respectively. The proportion of respondents with some experience of event reporting during the past 12 months was highest in Japan. In general, U.S. healthcare workers were likely to evaluate their PSC higher than that in Japan or Taiwan. The attitude of continuous improvement in Japan and event reporting of near misses in Taiwan were rated as low. In the U.S., staffing was rated as high.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that PSC varies among different countries, and the cultural setting of each country should be given special consideration in the development of effective intervention plans to improve PSC. Additional investigations with improved methodology and a common protocol are required to accurately compare PSCs among countries.
authors: Department of Social medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: Shigeru
authors: S
authors: Fujita
authors: Kanako
authors: K
authors: Seto
authors: Shinya
authors: S
authors: Ito
authors: Yinghui
authors: Y
authors: Wu
authors: Chiu-Chin
authors: CC
authors: Huang
authors: Tomonori
authors: T
authors: Hasegawa
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D015279:Organizational Culture; D061214:Patient Safety; D017751:Safety Management; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D014481:United States