• José Joaquín Mira, Susana Lorenzo, and Isabel Navarro.
• Departamento Salud San Juan-Alicante, Conselleria de Sanitat, Alicante, Madrid, Spain.
• Med Princ Pract. 2014 Jan 1; 23 (1): 92-4.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to explore the theoretical relationship between the social reputation and the perceived safety of a hospital.Subjects And MethodsA random sample of 316 patients and 27 relatives of patients who were unable to respond themselves at four public hospitals in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante were interviewed to establish a measure of reputation and perceived safety.ResultsThere were no different perceptions between patients and relatives regarding hospital reputation or safety perception (p > 0.05). The perception of patients or relatives of health professionals' competence (β = 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.12), the perception of a positive treatment output of surgical or medical treatment (β = 0.35, 95% CI 0.22-0.49) and hospital reputation (β = 0.08, 95% CI 0.02-0.14) were directly and positively associated with their perception that the hospital was a safe clinical environment in which few clinical errors are committed.ConclusionsThe data suggested that the social reputation of these hospitals and the perceptions of patients or relatives of patient safety were indeed correlated. Future research should assess whether efforts to enhance hospital reputation, by improving patients' perceptions of clinical safety, may contribute to reducing the frequency of litigation cases.© 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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