Sign Up for Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture E-mail Updates
In 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, a staff survey designed to help hospitals assess the culture of safety in their institutions. Since then, hundreds of hospitals across the U.S. and internationally have implemented the survey.
In response to requests from hospitals interested in comparing their safety culture survey results to other hospitals, AHRQ funded the development of a comparative database on the survey in 2006. The database is comprised of voluntarily submitted data from U.S. hospitals that administered the survey. Comparative database reports were produced in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, and will be produced yearly through at least 2012.
Hospital Survey Toolkit | Comparative Database | Data Entry and Analysis Tool | Hospital Patient Safety Improvement Resources | International Users | Technical Assistance
Hospital Survey Toolkit
Frequently Asked Questions
Survey Form
Survey Items and Dimensions
Survey User's Guide
The User's Guide provides a general overview of the issues and major decisions involved in conducting a survey and reporting the results. The Guide includes information on getting started, selecting a sample, determining data collection methods, establishing data collection procedures, conducting a Web-based survey, and preparing and analyzing data, and producing reports.
Survey Feedback Report Template
Note: Microsoft® Word® Versions can be viewed with the free Word® Viewer. 
PowerPoint® files can be accessed using a free PowerPoint® Viewer.
Top of Page
Comparative Database
AHRQ has established the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Comparative Database as a central repository for survey data from hospitals that have administered the AHRQ patient safety culture survey instrument. The database serves as an important resource for hospitals wishing to compare their patient safety culture survey results to those of other hospitals in support of patient safety culture improvement.
- Submission Information—For hospitals interested in submitting their hospital patient safety culture survey data.
- Data Use Agreement (PDF Version, 300 KB; PDF Help)—States how data submitted by hospitals will be used and provides confidentiality assurances.
- 2012 Hospital Comparative Database Report—Based on data from 1,128 U.S. hospitals, the 2012 user comparative database report provides initial results that hospitals can use to compare their patient safety culture to other U.S. hospitals. In addition, the 2012 report presents results showing change over time for 650 hospitals that submitted data more than once. The report consists of a narrative description of the findings and four appendixes, presenting data by hospital characteristics and respondent characteristics for the database hospitals overall and separately for the 650 trending hospitals.
Previous Database Reports
Top of Page
Data Entry and Analysis Tool
This data entry and analysis tool works with Microsoft® Excel® and makes it easy to input your individual-level data from the survey. The tool then automatically creates tables and graphs to display your survey results. To request the tool, send an E-mail to: DatabasesOnSafetyCulture@ahrq.hhs.gov.
Top of Page
Hospital Patient Safety Improvement Resources
This document contains references to Web sites that provide practical resources hospitals can use to implement changes to improve patient safety culture and patient safety. These resources are not a complete and exhaustive list, but are provided to give initial guidance to hospitals looking for information about patient safety initiatives. This document will be updated periodically.
Top of Page
International Users
AHRQ is interested in finding out about international users of the patient safety culture surveys. If you are an international user, please E-mail SafetyCultureSurveys@ahrq.hhs.gov to share information about your administration of the survey, results, and translations you have made of the survey.
For more information about international use of the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture, go to International Users.
Top of Page
Technical Assistance
Top of Page
Current as of January 2012
Internet Citation:
Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. January 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/patientsafetyculture/hospsurvindex.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850 