Impact of SPEAK UP™ on Patients Participation and Safety among People Referring to Babolsar Hospitals

Aims Improving the quality of patients’ safety is one of the hospitals’ priorities and the WHO has prioritized it as one of the basic health concerns. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of the “SPEAK UP” program on strengthening patients’ participation and safety referred to Babolsar hospitals.Materials Methods This quasi-experimental interventional study was performed from June to December 2017. The selected patients referred to the clinic of Shafa Hospital were divided into two groups: control and experimental (50 participants in each). A pre-test was given to both samples, and then training was held for the intervention group through the educational brochure. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for collecting the data based on the “SPEAK UP brochure” (α=0.925). Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests were used for testing the research hypotheses through SPSS 20.Findings The mean scores of participation, safety, learning, and asking skills in the post-test of the experimental group were higher than that of their pre-test scores. Implementation of the SPEAK UP program had a significant impact on participation, safety skills, learning skills, and the asking skills of the patients who referred to the hospital.Conclusion Promoting the implementation of the “SPEAK UP” program through using 7 educational rules has a significant impact on the free expression of opinions, enhancing the patients’ participation level, and improving the safety of patients who referred to hospitals and others health centers.