Understanding the challenges to the safe delivery of care in the Mexican healthcare system

Safety and quality challenges have been identified by national and global organizations highlighting the need for health sector improvements in Mexico. The current research investigates healthcare workers’ perspectives of factors affecting their job performance and wellbeing, ability to provide effective care and overall patient safety culture within a public hospital in Guadalajara. A total of 30 hospital staff took part in a card sorting task to elicit the perceived impact of eight pre-identified organizational factors. Results showed that healthcare workers identified the top contributory factors as ‘Finance/budget’ and ‘Resources’. ‘Staff numbers and competency’ was chosen for having more significant impact in delivering safe and effective healthcare, while ‘Communication’ was perceived to have more impact on the way their do their job. The findings from this study helped to identify areas for future applied research projects and provisional direction to the Hospital Quality Managers for targeted improvements projects.