Safety Status of Imaging Ward in Public and Private Hospitals

Background and Objectives: Safety is one of the main dimensions of quality of health services. Considering the expansion of imaging equipment in diagnosis of diseases and the importance of maintaining and improving the safety of patients and staff in these wards, this study aimed to investigate the safety status of imaging wards in hospitals.

Material and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. The sampling method was the census so that all public and private hospitals in Tabriz city of Iran (7 public hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and 6 private hospitals) were enrolled in the study. The instrument used was a researcher-made checklist whose content validity ratio was 0.82 and the Content Validity Index was 0.86. The safety status of the wards was evaluated in 9 domains. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 24 using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney test.

Results: The mean safety score of imaging wards was 79.78 ± 6.2 The average safety scores in public hospitals were 79.7±5.91 and private hospitals were 79.8 ±7.29. Radiation safety was the highest score in public and private hospitals (92.85 ± 8.09) and private (95.8 ± 9.17). The lowest standards compliance in public hospitals was related to electrical safety (69.28 ± 10.96). In private hospitals, employee safety had the lowest score (62.96 ± 9.07). There was a significant difference between the mean score of employee safety and the type of hospital ownership (public and private) (p value=0.019).

Conclusion: Safety improvement in imaging should be studied as one of the priority issues in all hospitals. Employee safety had the lowest score thus it is necessary to implement strategies to improve employee safety including providing appropriate protective clothing, daily distribution of milk and proportionate compensation such as paying to work with radiation, reducing working hours and increasing annual leave according to existing laws.