International Use of the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture

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Since the release of the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture in November 2004, the number of international survey users has grown. This page provides information on international use, including languages into which the survey has been translated and guidelines for translation.

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Contents

International Survey Users
Information Sharing and Networking
Translation Guidelines
Information for Translators

International Survey Users

As of July 2011, the number of international users that have administered the hospital survey now includes 31 countries, with 19 different translations. The nursing home survey has been administered in four countries and the medical office survey has been administered in five countries. Both the nursing home survey and medical office survey have been translated into three languages.

Table 1. List of 31 International Hospital Surveys on Patient Safety (SOPS) Countries

Australia Belgium Brazil Canada Croatia Denmark El Salvador France Germany Greece India

Italy Japan Jordan Malaysia Malta Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Saudi Arabia

Serbia Singapore Slovenia Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Turkey United Kingdom

Table 2. List of 19 Hospital SOPS Translations

Arabic Chinese—Mandarin Croatian Danish Dutch Flemish French

German Greek Italian Japanese Norwegian Portuguese

Serbian Slovene Spanish Swedish Thai Turkish

Table 3a. International Nursing Home SOPS Countries

Canada Denmark Japan Spain

Table 3b. International Medical Office SOPS Countries

Canada Denmark Ireland Japan Spain

Table 4. Medical Office and Nursing Home SOPS Translations

Danish Japanese Spanish

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Information Sharing and Networking

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 surveys, results, and any translations you have made of the surveys. AHRQ's support contractor maintains a list of international users to facilitate international information sharing and networking. AHRQ is also interested in citations and copies of publications from international users.

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Translation Guidelines

• Translation Guidelines for the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (PDF File, 80 KB; PDF Help)

These guidelines help translators translate one of the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (i.e., the Hospital, Medical Office, or Nursing Home Surveys). The 7-step process uses a team approach based on current best practices for survey translations (e.g., Douglas and Craig, 2007; Forsyth, et al., 2007; Institute of Survey Research, 2008; U.S. Census Bureau, 2009; Weidmer et al., 2006). Following these guidelines will help ensure that the survey's items, instructions, and responses:

1. Convey the same meanings as the English version.
2. Use language that is familiar to and easily understood by respondents.
3. Are culturally appropriate.
4. Use correct grammar and syntax.

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Information for Translators

Information for translators provides information about the intended meaning of the survey items to help translators develop a translation of the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture that conveys the same meaning as the original U.S. English version.

• Information for Translators of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (PDF File, 60 KB; PDF Help).
• Information for Translators of the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture (PDF File, 55 KB; PDF Help).
• Information for Translators of the Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (PDF File, 80 KB; PDF Help).

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Current as of August 2011

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Internet Citation:

International Use of the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture. August 2011. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/patientsafetyculture/pscintusers.htm

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