AUTHOR=Zhang Chi , Wilson-Sheehan Sena , Ruch Brianna , Wagler Josiah , Abidali Ali , Lim Elisabeth S. , Chang Yu-Hui , Fowler Christopher , Douglas David D. , Mathur Amit K. 

TITLE=Safety attitudes culture remain stable in a transplant center: evidence from the coronavirus pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Transplantation

VOLUME=Volume 2 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/transplantation/articles/10.3389/frtra.2023.1208916

DOI=10.3389/frtra.2023.1208916

ISSN=2813-2440

ABSTRACT=We sought to understand how safety culture may evolve during disruption, by using the COVID pandemic as an example, to identify vulnerabilities in the system that could impact patient outcomes. A cross-sectional analysis of transplant personnel at a high-volume transplant center was conducted using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). Survey responses were scaled and evaluated pre-and intra-COVID (2019 and 2021). Two-hundred and thirty-eight responses were collected (134 pre-pandemic and 104 intra-pandemic). Represented organ groups included: kidney (N=89;38%), heart (N=18;8%), liver (N=54;23%), multiple (N=66;28%), and other (N=10;4%). Responders primarily included nurses (N=75;34%), administration (N=50;23%), and physicians (N=24;11%). Workers had high safety, job satisfaction, stress recognition, and working conditions satisfaction (score ≥75) both before and during the pandemic with overlapping responses across both timepoints. Stress recognition, safety, and working conditions improved intra-COVID, but teamwork, job satisfaction, and perceptions of management were somewhat negatively impacted (all p>0.05). Despite the serious health care disruptions induced by the pandemic, high domain ratings were notable and largely maintained in a high-volume transplant center. The SAQ is a valuable tool for healthcare units and can be used in longitudinal assessments of transplant culture of safety as a component of quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives.