The Influence of Patient-Centered Care on Patients’ Perceived Safety in Hospital

Abstract

                This study aimed to assess patients’ perceived safety in hospital, and the relationships between and the influence of each dimension of patient-centered care on patients’ perceived safety in hospital. Data were collected from 288 patients in two regional hospitals in the northern region of Thailand. Research instruments included the Consultation Care Measure developed by Little et al (2001) and the Patient Measure of Safety developed by McEachan et al (2014). All research instruments were translated into Thai language and had reliability indices of 0.96 and 0.87, respectively. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation, and enter multiple regression analysis.

              The results showed that 64.3% of participants perceived hospital safety at high level, and that patient-centered care was associated with patients’ perceived safety in hospital. Three variables that could explain the variance of the perceived safety in hospital were patient-centered care in the communication and partnership subscale, patient-centered care in the interpersonal relationships subscale, and number of hospital visits.

            The findings of this study suggest that hospital administrators should improve healthcare providers’ communication skills, provide a chance for patients to engage as a partner in process of care, and establish good patient-healthcare provider interconnection, all of which will create a trusting patient-healthcare provider relationship and help patients feel safe during hospitalization.