Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2007 Comparative Database Report. Table B-6

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Table B-6. Item-level Average Percent Positive Response by Respondent Staff Position

Patient Safety Culture Composites		Staff Position
		Admin/ Mgmt	Attending/ Physician/ Resident/ PA or NP	Dietician	Pat Care Asst/Aide/ Care Partner	Pharmacist	RN/LVN/ LPN	Technician (EKG, Lab, Radiology)	Therapist (Respiratory, Phys, Occup, Speech)	Unit Asst/ Clerk/ Secretary
		361 Hospi- tals	251 Hospi- tals	204 Hospi- tals	311 Hospi- tals	261 Hospi- tals	374 Hospi- tals	334 Hospi- tals	319 Hospi- tals	354 Hospi- tals
		6,938 Respon- dents	4,414 Respon- dents	725 Respon- dents	5,904 Respon- dents	1,561 Respon- dents	36,991 Respon- dents	10,947 Respon- dents	4,791 Respon- dents	6,848 Respon- dents
1. Teamwork Within Units	A1—People support one another in this unit.	90%	86%	81%	77%	86%	84%	80%	87%	81%
	A3—When a lot of work needs to be done quickly, we work together as a team to get the work done.	91%	85%	82%	80%	85%	86%	84%	87%	82%
	A4—In this unit, people treat each other with respect.	84%	84%	74%	68%	79%	76%	74%	84%	75%
	A11—When one area in this unit gets really busy, others help out.	75%	69%	69%	62%	69%	66%	67%	75%	67%
2. Supv/Mgr Expectations & Actions Promoting Patient Safety	B1—My supv/mgr says a good word when he/she sees a job done according to established patient safety procedures.	78%	66%	75%	70%	70%	68%	67%	71%	73%
	B2—My supv/mgr seriously considers staff suggestions for improving patient safety.	85%	73%	76%	73%	78%	74%	74%	80%	77%
	B3—Whenever pressure builds up, my supv/mgr wants us to work faster, even if it means taking shortcuts.	82%	65%	70%	73%	78%	73%	77%	76%	78%
	B4—My supv/mgr overlooks patient safety problems that happen over and over.	83%	70%	73%	75%	77%	75%	76%	78%	78%
3. Mgmt Support for Patient Safety	F1—Hospital mgmt provides a work climate that promotes patient safety.	89%	78%	83%	80%	72%	73%	80%	81%	83%
	F8—The actions of hospital mgmt show that patient safety is a top priority.	82%	69%	76%	74%	69%	63%	71%	71%	74%
	F9—Hospital mgmt seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens.	74%	58%	59%	57%	61%	54%	58%	59%	61%
4. Organizational Learning—Continuous Improvement	A6—We are actively doing things to improve patient safety.	85%	78%	79%	82%	86%	81%	77%	82%	78%
	A9—Mistakes have led to positive changes here.	79%	65%	62%	57%	72%	59%	61%	59%	59%
	A13—After we make changes to improve patient safety, we evaluate their effectiveness.	74%	68%	64%	71%	62%	66%	63%	69%	67%
5. Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety	A10 R—It is just by chance that more serious mistakes don';t happen around here.	71%	64%	60%	50%	63%	58%	62%	67%	58%
	A15—Patient safety is never sacrificed to get more work done.	70%	61%	67%	63%	58%	55%	70%	69%	70%
	A17 R— We have patient safety problems in this unit.	69%	59%	62%	55%	58%	56%	70%	70%	67%
	A18—Our procedures and systems are good at preventing errors from happening.	75%	65%	69%	65%	70%	64%	73%	75%	69%
6. Feedback and Communication About Error	C1—We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports.	62%	52%	61%	53%	51%	50%	49%	55%	55%
	C3—We are informed about errors that happen in this unit.	75%	62%	66%	65%	69%	58%	68%	66%	70%
	C5—In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again.	80%	67%	72%	68%	73%	66%	69%	74%	71%
7. Communication Openness	C2—Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care.	82%	74%	74%	75%	79%	75%	76%	80%	74%
	C4—Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority.	65%	57%	53%	39%	62%	45%	45%	54%	41%
	C6 R—Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not seem right.	71%	62%	60%	56%	74%	62%	65%	70%	60%
8. Frequency of Events Reported	D1—When a mistake is made, but is caught and corrected before affecting the patient, how often is this reported?	56%	48%	47%	60%	34%	46%	48%	49%	57%
	D2—When a mistake is made, but has no potential to harm the patient, how often is this reported?	59%	51%	46%	57%	50%	58%	51%	50%	57%
	D3—When a mistake is made that could harm the patient, but does not, how often is this reported?	76%	69%	66%	71%	72%	76%	73%	70%	74%
9. Teamwork Across Units	F2 R—Hospital units do not coordinate well with each other.	51%	46%	49%	48%	44%	41%	43%	49%	45%
	F4—There is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together.	64%	61%	58%	59%	57%	54%	57%	63%	58%
	F6 R—It is often unpleasant to work with staff from other hospital units.	61%	60%	62%	59%	61%	58%	55%	65%	55%
	F10—Hospital units work well together to provide the best care for patients.	73%	67%	70%	71%	62%	63%	65%	70%	68%
10. Staffing	A2—We have enough staff to handle the workload.	67%	58%	58%	43%	50%	53%	54%	54%	50%
	A5 R—Staff in this unit work longer hours than is best for patient care.	57%	51%	53%	46%	59%	55%	54%	58%	51%
	A7 R—We use more agency/temporary staff than is best for patient care.	68%	62%	59%	62%	66%	70%	67%	69%	60%
	A14 R—We work in "crisis mode" trying to do too much, too quickly.	54%	51%	52%	44%	47%	47%	48%	54%	51%
11. Handoffs & Transitions	F3 R—Things "fall between the cracks" when transferring patients from one unit to another.	43%	41%	35%	46%	28%	43%	36%	40%	44%
	F5 R—Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes.	48%	46%	41%	58%	34%	53%	46%	47%	50%
	F7 R—Problems often occur in the exchange of information across hospital units.	45%	43%	41%	42%	32%	44%	37%	44%	42%
	F11 R—Shift changes are problematic for patients in this hospital.	48%	39%	39%	51%	32%	49%	42%	42%	45%
12. Nonpunitive Response to Error	A8 R—Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them.	67%	49%	51%	39%	63%	50%	49%	58%	48%
	A12 R—When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem.	65%	44%	45%	34%	60%	44%	41%	49%	39%
	A16 R—Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file.	49%	35%	38%	26%	53%	34%	35%	42%	31%

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