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Background: Patient safety in primary care is an emerging field of research with a growing evidence base in western countries but little has been explored in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC) including the Sultanate of Oman. This study aimed to review the literature on the safety culture and patient safety measures used globally to inform the development of safety culture among health care workers in primary care with a particular focus on the Middle East. Methods: A systematic review of the literature. Searches were undertaken using Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Scopus from the year 2000 to 2014. Terms defining safety culture were combined with terms identifying patient safety and primary care. Results: The database searches identified 3072 papers that were screened for inclusion in the review. After the screening and verification, data were extracted from 28 papers that described safety culture in primary care. The global distribution of the articles is as follows: the Netherlands (7), the United States (5), Germany (4), the United Kingdom (1), Australia, Canada and Brazil (two for each country), and with one each from Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The characteristics of the included studies were grouped under the following themes: safety culture in primary care, incident reporting, safety climate and adverse events. The most common theme from 2011 onwards was the assessment of safety culture in primary care (13 studies, 46%). The most commonly used safety culture assessment tool is the Hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPSC) which has been used in developing countries in the Middle East. Conclusions: This systematic review reveals that the most important first step is the assessment of safety culture in primary care which will provide a basic understanding to safety-related perceptions of health care providers. The HSOPSC has been commonly used in Kuwait, Turkey, and Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To examine and summarize the reported association of nurse managers' transformational leadership and quality of patient care based on the perceptions of registered nurses. Background: Transformational leadership behaviors of nurse managers result in staff nurses' satisfaction and retention and patient satisfaction. Patient safety and quality of care are vital to high‐performing healthcare organizations. Perceptions of registered nurses are important because nurses are frontline healthcare providers fundamental to patient safety and quality of care and are considered the final line of defense in preventing adverse events and errors and improving the safety of patients. Materials and methods: We searched the CINAHL, ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases for evidence published between 2018 and 2022 in the English language. We adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines in carrying out this meta‐analysis. Results: Nine quantitative studies were appraised using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklists and were included in the final review that involved a total sample of 3633 registered nurses. The included studies were reported across Asian, Middle East, and European countries within the past five years. The association between the transformational leadership behaviors of nurse managers and the quality of patient care was found in varying degrees (i.e., insignificant, weak, indirect, and strong direct association) based on the perceptions of registered nurses. Conclusions: There is a direct and indirect association between the transformational leadership behaviors of nurse managers and the quality of patient care internationally. This association is influenced by confounding and mediating factors, including gender, organizational culture, structural empowerment, and job satisfaction. Implications for nursing and health policies: Healthcare organizations need to support nursing leaders to have a stronger transformational leadership style by considering several factors that influence their leadership to improve the quality of patient care their staff nurses provide at the bedside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) was proposed in 2010 as a minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of achalasia. In this article, we describe the Middle Eastern experience with the procedure in terms of efficacy, length of admission, and short- and long-term complications. Methods: A retrospective analysis of our prospectively collected data on patients who underwent a POEM procedure was conducted between March 2019 and May 2020. The primary outcome was clinical success rate, defined as a postprocedure Eckardt score ≤3 at ≥3 months. Secondary outcomes included the length of hospital stay, presence of reflux symptoms or need for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) ≥3 months, and adverse events. Results: During the study period, 67 patients (35 females) underwent the procedure for achalasia. The participants' ages ranged from 11 to 80 years (mean 41 ± 18 years). Eckardt scores before the treatment ranged between 4 and 12 (mean 8.85 ± 1.75). Sixty-four patients (95.5%) achieved Eckardt scores of ≤3 at ≥3 months after the procedure (95% confidence interval [CI]: 91%–100%). The difference between pre- and post-procedural Eckardt scores averaged around -8 points (95% CI: −7.5 to -8.5 P < 0.0001). Adverse events were reported in 24 patients (35.8%) and included pneumoperitoneum (32.8%), reflux symptoms at 3 months (29.9%), and surgical emphysema (3%). Six patients had adverse events that led to prolongation of admission; 3% of whom had aspiration pneumonia, 3% had pneumoperitoneum, 1.5% had both, and 1.5% had an esophageal tear. Conclusions: POEM is a promising procedure for the treatment of achalasia with a high clinical success rate, short hospital admission, and a reassuring safety profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]