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You Are Here: AHRQ Home > Quality & Patient Safety > Patient Safety & Medical Errors > Surveys on Patient Safety Culture > Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture

Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture

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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 | Additional Resources | 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 (Plugin Software Help). PowerPoint® files can be accessed using a free PowerPoint® Viewer (Plugin Software Help).

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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.

    Note: There is no data submission for the Hospital Database in May/June 2012. AHRQ is in the process of reestablishing the timeframe and frequency for future periods for submission of data and plans to inform users/those interested in submitting data once those dates have been determined.

  • Data Use Agreement (PDF Version, 300 KB; Plugin Software 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

  • 2011 Hospital Comparative Database Report—The 2011 report consists of data from 472,397 hospital staff in 1,032 hospitals. This report also presents results showing change over time for 512 hospitals that submitted data more than once.
  • 2010 Hospital Comparative Database Report—The 2010 report consists of data from 338,607 hospital staff in 885 hospitals. This report also presents results showing changes over time for 321 hospitals that submitted data more than once.
  • 2009 Hospital Comparative Database Report—The 2009 report consists of data from 196,462 hospital staff in 622 hospitals and presents results showing change over time for 204 hospitals that submitted data more than once.
  • 2008 Hospital Comparative Database Report—The 2008 report consists of data from 160,176 hospital staff in 519 hospitals and presents results showing change over time for 98 hospitals that submitted data more than once.
  • 2007 Hospital Comparative Database Report—The 2007 report consists of data from 108,621 hospital staff in 382 hospitals.

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Additional Resources

Improving Patient Safety in Hospitals: A Resource List for Users of the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture

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.

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.

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Technical Assistance

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Current as of June 2012

Internet Citation:

Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. June 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/patientsafetyculture/hospsurvindex.htm

 
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