Organizational Safety Culture and Quality Improvement Implementation among Radiology Staff of Hospitals in Southern Mindanao, Philippines

High-risk radiology departments require adequate quality assurance and quality control measures to prevent exposure to unnecessary radiation, thereby minimizing radiation-induced effects such as cancer and cataract. Research into the determinants of successful quality management suggests that one
crucial factor is organizational safety culture. However, investigations on corporate safety culture and quality improvement implementation are few and far between in the Philippine context. Hence, this study aimed to determine the relationship between organizational safety culture and quality improvement
implementation from the viewpoint of radiology staff. In this descriptive-correlational study, all of the 247 radiology staff affiliated in six level-3 hospitals in Southern Mindanao, Philippines, were selected to answer the questionnaire composed of scales on organizational safety culture and quality improvement
implementation. The data were analyzed using mean and Spearman rank-order correlation. The overall organization safety culture and its four variables, as well as the total quality improvement implementation and its three variables gained almost a similar mean score with a moderate verbal description. The organizational safety culture and all of its variables positively correlate with quality improvement implementation. The results of the study may help the health policy-makers and administrators in the formulation of quality measures in the high-risk radiology area by fostering practices that may improve the safety culture of the organization. Organizational commitment to safety practices, the involvement of management in the implementation of safety culture, and adequate reporting and reward systems, according to the study, may enhance the quality improvement implementation.

Keywords –Hospital management, Organizational safety culture, Philippines, Quality improvement management, Radiology department