Relationship between Perceived Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to examine the association between patient perceived healthcare quality and self-reported medical, medication, and laboratory errors using cross-sectional and cross-national questionnaire data from eleven countries. In this research, quality of care was measured by a multi-faceted construct, which adopted the patient's perspectives. Five separated quality of care scales were assessed: Access to Care, Continuity of care, Communication of Care, Care Coordination, and Provider's Respect for Patients' Preferences. The findings from this investigation support a number of other published studies suggesting that Coordination of Care is an important predictor of perceived patient safety. After adjusting for potentially important confounding variables, an increase in peoples' perceptions of Coordination of Care decreased the likelihood of self-reporting medical errors (OR =0.605, 95% CI: 0.569 to 0.653), medication errors (OR =0.754, 95% CI: 0.691 to 0.830), and laboratory errors (OR =0.615, 95% CI: 0.555 to 0.681). Finally, results showed that the healthcare system type governing care processes modifies the effect of Coordination of Care on self-reported medication errors.