Copyright © 2017 Safaa Mohamed Abdelrahman, Fatma Rushdy Mohamed. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies, 6 (2) (2017) 67-70 International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJANS doi: 10.14419/ijans.v6i2.7681 Research paper Patient safety culture as perceived by internship nursing students Safaa Mohamed Abdelrahman 1 *, Fatma Rushdy Mohamed 2 1 Assistant professor of Nursing Administration, Faculty of Nursing, Minia University, Egypt 2 Assistant professor of Nursing Administration, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University, Egypt *Corresponding author E-mail: abdelrahman.safaa@yahoo.com Abstract Background: Patient Safety Culture is a relatively new concept in health management. Highly reliable health care providers have a pa- tient safety culture incorporated in them. Aim: To assess perception of internship nursing students about patient safety culture during their working at Minia and Assiut Universities Hospitals. Subjects and methods: Descriptive correlation design was utilized for this cur- rent study. A convenience sample of nurses' intern, equal both to participate 200 nurse intern from Minia and Assiut Universities Hospi- tals. The data collected through self-administered questionnaire which includes personal characteristics data and patient safety culture questionnaire. Results: Illustrated the positive correlation between all factors of patient safety culture among internship nursing students in Minia and patient safety level with highly statistically significant differences. There were positive correlations between hospital work area / unit and residence with statistically significant differences. Conclusions: There were positive correlations among studied internship nursing students as regard to the level of patient safety and all factors of patient safety cultures (Hospital work area, your supervisor, Communication, Frequency of events reported, Patient safety at your hospital). Recommendations: Study the association between patient safety culture and quality of care from patients’ perspectives. Keywords: Patient Safety, Safety Culture, Nursing Internship. 1. Introduction Patient safety is defined as the avoidance and prevention of patient injuries or adverse events resulting from the processes of health care delivery. An event is defined as any type of error, mistake, incident, accident, or deviation, regardless of whether or not it results in patient harm (Katherine et al 2008). Patient Safety Culture is a relatively new concept in health man- agement. Highly reliable health care providers have a patient safe- ty culture incorporated in them. This brings down the number of adverse events and mistakes i.e. these organizations can carry out most risky procedures with very low hazard rate (Yang & Darzi 2011). Issues of patient safety have become a priority in health policy and healthcare management. The rapidity by which healthcare tech- nologies evolve have required greater attention to safety issues necessary for effective, and efficient delivery of high quality ser- vices ( WHO, 2012). Patient safety is a new healthcare discipline that emphasizes reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical errors that often lead to adverse health care events. Recognizing health care errors impact 1 in every 10 patients around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls patient safety an endemic concern (Internet Citation, 2016). Patient safety culture forms a subset of organizational culture relating specifically to the beliefs and values concerning health and safety within an organization (Clarke, 1998). In other words, safety culture reflects the ability of individuals or organizations to deal with risks and hazards so as to avoid damage or losses and yet still achieve their goals (Reason, 2000). Open communication is also one of the most important features in patient safety. This is the main source of learning from errors (WHO, 2007). Well established patient safety culture importantly consists of six components. They are: Inform culture is the will- ingness of the frontline-workers to report their errors and near misses. This is a behavior pattern of members in the organization. Where an organization anticipates the adverse events and readily counteract; Learning culture is when an organization analyzes the information and implements appropriate changes; Open culture is openness about errors. Patient safety culture in an organization can be assessed on the above factors at unit level, hospital level and as outcome variables (Katherine et al 2012). Failures were found while analyzing the root causes of the breakdown of organization- al patient safety. They are: Active failure - Failures that occur due to front line workers while delivering services e.g.; between pa- tients and nurses; and Latent failure - Failures take place due to gaps in the higher levels e.g. Managerial level. Post-accidental investigations have shown the local trigger factors are active fail- ures in the system. The majority of the active failures occur due to latent failure i.e. Weaknesses in the organizational system and managerial deficiencies (Reason, 2000). Surveying hospital staff and physicians about patient safety cul- ture is a useful means to assess the environment within a hospital for preventing patient harm. Preventing patient harm requires more than putting best practices into place. It also requires a cul- ture that is characterized by effective communications, shared values about the importance of safety, and the presence of systems that help the organization learn from errors and prevent them from occurring. A poorly perceived safety culture has been linked to increases in errors. Higher patient safety culture scores are associ-