Assessment of patient safety culture in a Brazilian trauma reference hospital

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the patient safety culture in a trauma reference hospital in Rio Grande do Norte. Method: Cross-sectional, quantitative study conducted between May and August 2023, using the E-Questionnaire on Hospital Safety Culture with professionals from the multi-professional team. Descriptive analysis was performed, based on the percentage of positive responses in the twelve dimensions of the instrument. Results: 97 professionals participated (16.4%). No dimension was classified as a strength. The weakest were management support for safety (21.7%), non-punitive response to errors (26.8%), and frequency of reported events (27.3%). The best, although neutral, were organizational learning/continuous improvement (73.2%), management/supervision expectations and actions (55.8%), and teamwork (54.9%). Conclusion: The safety culture was found to be weakened, suggesting institutional interventions with non-punitive approaches to errors and greater management engagement with the care context.