Objective: To describe nurses' knowledge, perception and beliefs about patient safety. To measure the association between professional education, seniority and perception regarding patient safety.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 583 (64% response rate) nurses employed in a major medical center in Israel. Data were collected using structured questionnaires containing four sections: demographic and professional data, nurses' attitudes, believes and perceptions regarding safety culture.

Results: The average age of respondents was 38±9.9 years; 55.4% had an associate degree in nursing. Nearly 60% reported certification in a specialty. Seventy percent (70%) identified human failure as the most important source of error. Only half of the respondents believed that errors were related to communication or system failures.

Seventy-seven percent agreed with the need for disclosure of errors to patients; the same percentage reported that their unit has a policy of disclosing errors. This statement was significantly positively correlated with seniority in the organization (r=0.15. p=0.001).

Positive correlations was found between knowledge of patient safety issues and nurses' perceptions (r=0.465; p<0.001) and beliefs that their unit promoted a culture of safety (r=0.502; p<0.001). Staff meetings were the source of knowledge about culture of safety most cited.

Sixty percent reported that they would feel safe if they were a patient in their unit. A positive correlation was found between this response and nurses' belief that their unit and organization promote a culture of safety (r=0.172; p<0.001).

Conclusions: This study provides essential data regarding nurses' perception of patient safety culture. Development of workshops focusing on adverse event and error prevention, reporting and debriefing as well as implementation of new safety strategies is advised.