Upcoming strategies in obstetrics: how the technology of clinical audit may reduce cesarean birth.

Background: The rate of cesarean delivery is currently increasing all over Europe. In Italy it reaches 38% of all child births. Therefore, it is important to identify the clinical and organizational variables that determine the appropriateness of elective cesarean delivery.

Patient safety culture: an Italian experience.

Aims: To understand what level of awareness health professionals working in a hospital of Northern Italy had of the patient safety culture by using the Italian version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire and also validate its use in this setting.

Background: The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire was developed by the Agency for Health Research and Quality in 2008 and validated by several studies. Therefore, we decided to test the Italian version of this tool to see if it could be used effectively to measure and appraise patient safety culture also in Italy.