Means, SD and distribution of components and responses of the hospital survey on the patient safety culture instrument (N=300)
| Components and survey items | Mean (SD) | Negative responses | Neutral | Positive responses |
| SD/D* | N | SA/A | ||
| N (%)† | N (%) | N (%) | ||
| The supervisor’s/manager’s expectations and actions in promoting patient safety | 2.93 (0.62) | |||
| My supervisor/manager says a good word when they see a job done according to established patient safety procedures | 3.27 (1.15) | 75 (25.0) | 74 (24.6) | 151 (50.3) |
| My supervisor/manager seriously considers staff suggestions for improving patient safety | 3.27 (1.16) | 71 (23.6) | 99 (33.0) | 128 (42.6) |
| Whenever pressure builds up, my supervisor/manager wants us to work faster, even if it means taking shortcuts (R)‡ | 2.97 (1.11) | 115 (38.4) | 75 (25.0) | 109 (36.3) |
| My supervisor/manager overlooks patient safety problems that happen over and over (R) | 2.27 (1.12) | 200 (66.6) | 54 (18.0) | 45 (15.1) |
| Organisational learning/continuous improvement | 3.66 (0.73) | |||
| We are actively doing things to improve patient safety | 3.94 (0.97) | 27 (9.0) | 43 (14.3) | 229 (76.3) |
| The mistake has led to positive changes here | 3.41 1.16) | 63 (21.0) | 73 (24.3) | 162 (54.0) |
| After we make changes to improve patient safety, we evaluate their effectiveness | 3.60 (1.15) | 49 (16.3) | 66 (22.0) | 182 (60.6) |
| Teamwork within units | 3.89 (0.66) | |||
| Staff support one another in this unit | 3.97 (0.96) | 29 (9.6) | 15 (5.0) | 256 (85.3) |
| When a lot of work needs to be done quickly, we work together as a team to get the work done | 3.91 (0.92) | 28 (9.3) | 32 (10.7) | 240 (80.0) |
| In this unit, people treat each other with respect | 4.01 (0.84) | 17 (5.6) | 38 (12.6) | 245 (81.6) |
| When members of this unit get really busy, other members of the same unit help out | 3.53 (1.09) | 55 (18.3) | 55 (18.3) | 190 (63.4) |
| Communication openness | 3.08 (0.76) | Never/rarely | Sometimes | Mostly/always |
| Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care | 3.33 (1.13) | 67 (22.3) | 98 (32.6) | 135 (45.0) |
| Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority | 3.01 (1.19) | 100 (33.3) | 99 (33.0) | 101 (33.7) |
| Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not feel right (R) | 3.02 (1.18) | 99 (33.0) | 114 (38.0) | 84 (28.0) |
| Feedback and communications about error | 3.31 (0.87) | Never/rarely | Sometimes | Mostly/always |
| We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports | 3.13 (1.42) | 99 (33.0) | 88 (29.3) | 109 (36.3) |
| We are informed about errors that happen in this unit | 3.50 (1.13) | 61 (20.3) | 80 (26.6) | 159 (53.0) |
| In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again | 3.22 (1.11) | 77 (25.7) | 100 (33.3) | 123 (41.0) |
| Non-punitive response to the error | 3.90 (0.87) | |||
| The staff feel like their mistakes are held against them (R) | 3.95 (1.06) | 29 (9.6) | 48 (16.0) | 221 (73.7) |
| When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem (R) | 3.67 (1.27) | 63 (21.0) | 54 (18.0) | 180 (60.0) |
| Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file (R) | 4.15 (1.20) | 27 (9.2) | 32 (10.9) | 228 (77.8) |
| Staffing | 3.45 (10.88) | |||
| We have enough staff to handle the workload | 2.67 (1.32) | 156 (52.1) | 53 (17.7) | 89 (29.8) |
| Staff in this unit work longer hours than is best for patient care (R) | 3.70 (1.30) | 58 (19.3) | 61 (20.3) | 177 (59.1) |
| We use agency/temporary staff that is best for patient care (R) | 3.47 (2.53) | 136 (45.3) | 49 (16.3) | 73 (24.3) |
| When the work is in ‘crisis mode’, we try to do too much, too quickly (R) | 3.86 (1.08) | 37 (12.3) | 52 (17.3) | 208 (69.5) |
| Hospital management support for patient safety | 3.41 (0.70) | |||
| Hospital management provides a work climate that promotes patient safety | 3.52 (1.07) | 59 (19.7) | 53 (17.7) | 187 (26.3) |
| The actions of hospital management show that patient safety is a top priority | 3.62 (1.35) | 58 (19.3) | 56 (18.7) | 182 (60.7) |
| Hospital management seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens (R) | 3.10 (1.00) | 118 (39.3) | 49 (16.3) | 130 (34.4) |
| Teamwork across hospital units | 3.45 (0.68) | |||
| There is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together | 3.62 (1.32) | 56 (18.6) | 66 (22.00) | 171 (57.0) |
| Hospital units work well together to provide the best care for patients | 3.65 (1.23) | 48 (16.0) | 75 (25.0) | 171 (57.2) |
| Hospital units do not coordinate well with each other, and this might affect patient care (R) | 3.07 (1.22) | 106 (35.3) | 73 (24.3) | 120(40) |
| It is often not easy to work with staff from other hospital units (R) | 3.43 (1.00) | 72 (24.0) | 52 (17.3) | 173 (57.7) |
| Hospital handoffs and transitions | 3.10 (1.01) | |||
| Things ‘fall between the cracks’, that is, things might go uncontrolled and get lost (eg, medical records, medical treatment, patient information, and education, discharge criteria) when transferring patients from one unit to another (R) | 3.00 (1.41) | 122 (40.7) | 74 (24.7) | 99 (33.0) |
| Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes (R) | 3.00 (1.50) | 127 (42.4) | 61 (20.4) | 103 (34.3) |
| Problems often occur in the exchange of information across hospital units (R) | 3.43 (1.27) | 72 (24.0) | 52 (17.3) | 173 (57.7) |
| Shift changes are problematic for patients in this hospital (R) | 2.98 (1.24) | 119 (39.8) | 63 (21.1) | 116 (38.8) |
| The overall perception of safety | 3.57 (0.68) | |||
| It is just by chance that more serious mistakes do not happen around here (R) | 3.28 (1.43) | 93 (31.0) | 69 (23.0) | 132 (44.0) |
| Patient safety is never sacrificed to get more work done | 4.10 (1.01) | 21 (7.0) | 37 (12.3) | 240 (80.0) |
| We have patient safety problems in this unit (R) | 3.32 (1.49) | 96 (32.0) | 66 (22.0) | 129 (43.0) |
| Frequency of events reported | 3.33 (1.14) | Never/rarely | Sometimes | Mostly/always |
| How often is this reported when a mistake is made but is caught and corrected, affecting the patient? | 3.29 (1.31) | 94 (31.3) | 77 (25.6) | 127 (42.3) |
| How often is this reported when a mistake is made but has no potential to harm the patient? | 3.20 (1.33) | 98 (32.6) | 75 (25.0) | 125 (41.6) |
| When a mistake is made that could harm the patient but does not, how often is this reported? | 3.52 (1.22) | 61 (20.3) | 83 (27.6) | 154 (51.3) |
*%SD/D (combined strongly disagree and disagree), N (neutral), %SA/A (combined strongly agree and agree); otherwise, the scale label was listed above the variables.
†Some totals did not equal 300 and in turn to 100% because of ‘not applicable’ or missing answer in some items.
‡Negatively worded items that were reverse coded.