Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2008 Comparative Database Report

You Are Here: AHRQ Home > Medical Errors & Patient Safety > Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2008 Comparative Database Report

Table B-2. Item-level Average Percent Positive Response by Respondent Work Area/Unit

Survey Items by Composite		Work Area/Unit
		Anesthe- siology	Emer- gency	ICU (any type)	Lab	Medicine	Obstetrics	Pediatr.	Pharm.	Psych/ Mental Health	Radi- ology	Rehabil- itation	Surgery
		135 Hospi- tals	405 Hospi- tals	313 Hospi- tals	443 Hospi- tals	433 Hospi- tals	269 Hospi- tals	183 Hospi- tals	375 Hospi- tals	174 Hospi- tals	449 Hospi- tals	385 Hospi- tals	417 Hospi- tals
		1,115 Respon- dents	7,846 Respon- dents	9,845 Respon- dents	7,740 Respon- dents	13,228 Respon- dents	5,800 Respon- dents	4,044 Respon- dents	4,159 Respon- dents	3,308 Respon- dents	8,439 Respon- dents	5,708 Respon- dents	14,327 Respon- dents
1. Team- work Within Units	A1—People support one another in this unit.	82%	85%	86%	83%	81%	85%	84%	84%	82%	85%	91%	82%
	A3—When a lot of work needs to be done quickly, we work together as a team to get the work done.	88%	86%	87%	85%	80%	88%	86%	84%	84%	87%	90%	86%
	A4—In this unit, people treat each other with respect.	80%	76%	78%	77%	73%	77%	79%	78%	78%	77%	87%	74%
	A11—When one area in this unit gets really busy, others help out.	63%	70%	72%	71%	59%	67%	67%	68%	68%	67%	77%	65%
2. Supv/ Mgr Ex- pecta- tions & Actions Promot- ing Patient Safety	B1—My supv/mgr says a good word when he/she sees a job done according to established patient safety procedures.	65%	68%	66%	69%	69%	69%	68%	71%	71%	70%	76%	72%
	B2—My supv/mgr seriously considers staff suggestions for improving patient safety.	72%	73%	70%	74%	72%	74%	75%	78%	76%	78%	84%	76%
	B3—Whenever pressure builds up, my supv/mgr wants us to work faster, even if it means taking shortcuts.	71%	73%	69%	80%	73%	72%	74%	79%	75%	79%	81%	72%
	B4—My supv/mgr overlooks patient safety problems that happen over and over.	74%	75%	73%	77%	75%	74%	75%	79%	78%	80%	83%	77%
3. Mgmt Support for Patient Safety	F1—Hospital mgmt provides a work climate that promotes patient safety.	75%	71%	68%	81%	74%	76%	76%	78%	74%	83%	84%	78%
	F8—The actions of hospital mgmt show that patient safety is a top priority.	68%	62%	59%	74%	66%	66%	66%	72%	68%	742%	76%	69%
	F9—Hospital mgmt seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens.	57%	52%	49%	61%	55%	52%	55%	62%	58%	61%	63%	59%
4. Organ- izational Learn- ing— Contin- uous Improve- ment	A6—We are actively doing things to improve patient safety.	82%	77%	82%	79%	80%	78%	83%	86%	81%	80%	87%	86%
	A9—Mistakes have led to positive changes here.	63%	56%	55%	68%	60%	60%	58%	74%	58%	63%	61%	63%
	A13—After we make changes to improve patient safety, we evaluate their effectiveness.	66%	62%	65%	66%	67%	66%	68%	68%	68%	64%	72%	71%
5. Over- all Per- ceptions of Patient Safety	A10 R—It is just by chance that more serious mistakes don’t happen around here.	63%	53%	53%	65%	53%	59%	62%	64%	60%	67%	74%	64%
	A15—Patient safety is never sacrificed to get more work done.	59%	56%	50%	70%	54%	55%	63%	64%	64%	74%	76%	65%
	A17 R—We have patient safety problems in this unit.	64%	52%	55%	72%	51%	59%	65%	64%	50%	73%	75%	68%
	A18—Our procedures and systems are good at preventing errors from happening.	71%	61%	62%	78%	61%	67%	71%	73%	67%	74%	78%	74%
6. Feed- back and Com- munica- tion About Error	C1—We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports.	50%	48%	46%	51%	49%	53%	51%	53%	55%	53%	62%	53%
	C3—We are informed about errors that happen in this unit.	61%	57%	54%	70%	54%	60%	63%	72%	62%	71%	71%	67%
	C5—In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again.	72%	64%	63%	72%	64%	69%	67%	75%	71%	71%	78%	74%
7. Com- munica- tion Open- ness	C2—Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care.	78%	73%	74%	77%	72%	78%	78%	78%	76%	80%	83%	80%
	C4—Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority.	55%	47%	45%	48%	40%	48%	48%	59%	50%	49%	57%	50%
	C6 R—Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not seem right.	69%	63%	61%	67%	56%	63%	62%	73%	64%	68%	72%	65%
8. Freq- uency of Events Report- ed	D1—When a mistake is made, but is caught and corrected before affecting the patient, how often is this reported?	44%	44%	43%	54%	49%	49%	49%	48%	54%	44%	53%	56%
	D2—When a mistake is made, but has no potential to harm the patient, how often is this reported?	47%	54%	52%	58%	59%	56%	56%	58%	57%	47%	55%	60%
	D3—When a mistake is made that could harm the patient, but does not, how often is this reported?	67%	72%	72%	80%	74%	75%	72%	77%	73%	69%	71%	75%
9. Team- work Across Units	F2 R—Hospital units do not coordinate well with each other.	39%	40%	39%	45%	44%	38%	41%	44%	39%	44%	47%	40%
	F4—There is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together.	52%	50%	53%	60%	56%	55%	54%	57%	52%	58%	61%	52%
	F6 R—It is often unpleasant to work with staff from other hospital units.	58%	51%	57%	56%	61%	55%	56%	59%	59%	57%	64%	55%
	F10—Hospital units work well together to provide the best care for patients.	62%	59%	59%	67%	64%	63%	62%	66%	61%	67%	69%	62%
10. Staff- ing	A2—We have enough staff to handle the workload.	60%	44%	48%	51%	46%	49%	58%	53%	49%	60%	57%	56%
	A5 R—Staff in this unit work longer hours than is best for patient care.	47%	51%	52%	54%	49%	51%	56%	57%	52%	59%	60%	51%
	A7 R—We use more agency/temporary staff than is best for patient care.	62%	64%	63%	66%	64%	71%	73%	67%	68%	71%	69%	70%
	A14 R—We work in "crisis mode" trying to do too much, too quickly.	52%	43%	46%	49%	44%	44%	55%	48%	49%	57%	62%	52%
11. Hand- offs & Transiti- ons	F3 R—Things "fall between the cracks" when transferring patients from one unit to another.	35%	47%	38%	29%	43%	43%	40%	26%	32%	42%	40%	41%
	F5 R—Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes.	43%	57%	58%	44%	51%	60%	53%	34%	46%	46%	45%	45%
	F7 R—Problems often occur in the exchange of information across hospital units.	36%	47%	42%	37%	45%	43%	42%	32%	37%	37%	42%	39%
	F11 R—Shift changes are problematic for patients in this hospital.	34%	47%	55%	41%	49%	57%	46%	35%	44%	42%	39%	37%
12. Nonpuni- tive Response to Error	A8 R—Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them.	54%	45%	47%	53%	46%	49%	50%	62%	50%	54%	65%	53%
	A12 R—When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem.	42%	38%	39%	44%	42%	42%	43%	57%	49%	46%	57%	49%
	A16 R—Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file.	32%	29%	29%	36%	32%	32%	32%	50%	33%	41%	52%	38%

Note: ICU = Intensive Care Unit; Pediatr. = Pediatrics; Pharm. = Pharmacy.

Note: The item's survey location is shown to the left. An "R" indicates a negatively worded item, where the percent positive response is based on those who responded "Strongly disagree" or "Disagree," or "Never" or "Rarely" (depending on the response category used for the item).

Return to Appendix B