Introduction:

Safety culture is transversal to all subjects and helps managers in decisions at all hierarchical levels. This theme became more evident, since it directly affects the safety and the quality of care, revealing one of the principles of risk management.

Objetive:

To analyze the patient safety culture from the perspective of nurse managers in a Portuguese university hospital.

Methods:

This is a descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, carried out in the university hospital of Porto, Portugal. Data collection took place between May and July 2014, with 14 nurse managers, applying the semi-structured interview guide, based on the dimensions of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis.

Results:

Six thematic categories emerged, namely: Management; Teamwork; Shift change and transfers; Supervisor’s expectation and actions to promote patient safety; Organizational learning, information feedback and open communication; and Management support for patient safety. From each of the thematic categories, a more expressive subcategory was chosen.

Conclusion:

The nurse managers analyzed safety culture with different perspectives and values, despite being part of the same institution.

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