Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2008 Comparative Database Report. Notes

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Table C-10. Trending: Item-level Average Percent Positive Response by Respondent Interaction with Patients

Survey Items by Composite			Respondent Interaction with Patients
			With direct interaction	Without direct interaction
			97 Hospitals both years	92 Hospitals both years
			13,063 Most Recent Respondents	3,179 Most Recent Respondents
			12,254 Previous Respondents	2,933 Previous Respondents
1. Teamwork Within Units	A1—People support one another in this unit.	Most Recent	85%	87%
		Previous	83%	86%
		Change	2%	1%
	A3—When a lot of work needs to be done quickly, we work together as a team to get the work done.	Most Recent	87%	87%
		Previous	87%	88%
		Change	0%	-1%
	A4—In this unit, people treat each other with respect.	Most Recent	78%	81%
		Previous	76%	80%
		Change	2%	1%
	A11—When one area in this unit gets really busy, others help out.	Most Recent	69%	71%
		Previous	68%	69%
		Change	1%	2%
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.	Most Recent	71%	74%
		Previous	69%	72%
		Change	2%	2%
	B2—My supv/mgr seriously considers staff suggestions for improving patient safety.	Most Recent	76%	78%
		Previous	75%	78%
		Change	1%	0%
	B3—Whenever pressure builds up, my supv/mgr wants us to work faster, even if it means taking shortcuts.	Most Recent	78%	76%
		Previous	76%	76%
		Change	2%	0%
	B4—My supv/mgr overlooks patient safety problems that happen over and over.	Most Recent	78%	77%
		Previous	77%	77%
		Change	1%	0%
3. Mgmt Support for Patient Safety	F1—Hospital mgmt provides a work climate that promotes patient safety.	Most Recent	82%	87%
		Previous	81%	88%
		Change	1%	-1%
	F8—The actions of hospital mgmt show that patient safety is a top priority.	Most Recent	74%	80%
		Previous	71%	78%
		Change	3%	2%
	F9—Hospital mgmt seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens.	Most Recent	61%	67%
		Previous	60%	65%
		Change	1%	2%
4. Organizational Learning— Continuous Improvement	A6—We are actively doing things to improve patient safety.	Most Recent	84%	81%
		Previous	82%	81%
		Change	2%	0%
	A9—Mistakes have led to positive changes here.	Most Recent	65%	69%
		Previous	62%	69%
		Change	3%	0%
	A13—After we make changes to improve patient safety, we evaluate their effectiveness.	Most Recent	71%	71%
		Previous	69%	69%
		Change	2%	2%
5. Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety	A10 R—It is just by chance that more serious mistakes don’t happen around here.	Most Recent	64%	64%
		Previous	61%	62%
		Change	3%	2%
	A15—Patient safety is never sacrificed to get more work done.	Most Recent	69%	70%
		Previous	66%	67%
		Change	3%	3%
	A17 R—We have patient safety problems in this unit.	Most Recent	67%	69%
		Previous	65%	65%
		Change	2%	4%
	A18—Our procedures and systems are good at preventing errors from happening.	Most Recent	73%	73%
		Previous	69%	72%
		Change	4%	1%
6. Feedback and Communication About Error	C1—We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports.	Most Recent	51%	53%
		Previous	50%	54%
		Change	1%	-1%
	C3—We are informed about errors that happen in this unit.	Most Recent	66%	72%
		Previous	65%	70%
		Change	1%	2%
	C5—In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again.	Most Recent	71%	76%
		Previous	69%	76%
		Change	2%	0%
7. Communication Openness	C2—Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care.	Most Recent	76%	76%
		Previous	75%	78%
		Change	1%	-2%
	C4—Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority.	Most Recent	47%	51%
		Previous	45%	49%
		Change	2%	2%
	C6 R—Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not seem right.	Most Recent	64%	66%
		Previous	62%	66%
		Change	2%	0%
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?	Most Recent	53%	57%
		Previous	52%	53%
		Change	1%	4%
	D2—When a mistake is made, but has no potential to harm the patient, how often is this reported?	Most Recent	60%	55%
		Previous	57%	56%
		Change	3%	-1%
	D3—When a mistake is made that could harm the patient, but does not, how often is this reported?	Most Recent	76%	73%
		Previous	75%	71%
		Change	1%	2%
9. Teamwork Across Units	F2 R—Hospital units do not coordinate well with each other.	Most Recent	49%	52%
		Previous	47%	48%
		Change	2%	4%
	F4—There is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together.	Most Recent	64%	61%
		Previous	62%	62%
		Change	2%	-1%
	F6 R—It is often unpleasant to work with staff from other hospital units.	Most Recent	61%	60%
		Previous	60%	57%
		Change	1%	3%
	F10—Hospital units work well together to provide the best care for patients.	Most Recent	71%	73%
		Previous	70%	72%
		Change	1%	1%
10. Staffing	A2—We have enough staff to handle the workload.	Most Recent	56%	60%
		Previous	56%	59%
		Change	0%	1%
	A5 R—Staff in this unit work longer hours than is best for patient care.	Most Recent	55%	50%
		Previous	56%	47%
		Change	-1%	3%
	A7 R—We use more agency/temporary staff than is best for patient care.	Most Recent	67%	57%
		Previous	68%	56%
		Change	-1%	1%
	A14 R—We work in "crisis mode" trying to do too much, too quickly.	Most Recent	55%	55%
		Previous	53%	50%
		Change	2%	5%
11. Handoffs & Transitions	F3 R—Things "fall between the cracks" when transferring patients from one unit to another.	Most Recent	49%	40%
		Previous	48%	40%
		Change	1%	0%
	F5 R—Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes.	Most Recent	54%	46%
		Previous	53%	43%
		Change	1%	3%
	F7 R—Problems often occur in the exchange of information across hospital units.	Most Recent	49%	43%
		Previous	46%	39%
		Change	3%	4%
	F11 R—Shift changes are problematic for patients in this hospital.	Most Recent	52%	44%
		Previous	50%	43%
		Change	2%	1%
12. Nonpunitive Response to Error	A8 R—Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them.	Most Recent	53%	60%
		Previous	53%	56%
		Change	0%	4%
	A12 R—When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem.	Most Recent	47%	52%
		Previous	43%	51%
		Change	4%	1%
	A16 R—Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file.	Most Recent	39%	42%
		Previous	37%	38%
		Change	2%	4%

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).

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