Nurse safety culture in the services of a university hospital

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate nurse safety culture in a teaching hospital, as well as to verify differences in the safety culture dimensions between services. METHOD: cross-sectional, quantitative study, conducted from October to December 2015, in a university hospital. The instrument Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was applied. RESULTS: A total of 195 nurses from four different services participated in the study. Significant difference between services were identified for five dimensions of safety culture: organizational learning (P=0.012); return of information and communication about error (P=0.014); management support for patient safety (P=0.001); general perceptions about patient safety (P=0.005); and frequency of event notification (P=0.003). CONCLUSION: The medical clinic service had the highest statistical difference between the dimensions. These evaluations allow managers to identify the differences between the same hospital's services, serving as a warning and assisting in the services' improvement.