• Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) :
   

Developed in 2006 at the University of Texas, many versions of this survey are now available publicly. All versions measure the same six factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition, perceptions of management, and working conditions. The original SAQ is made up of 60 items (alpha = .901), while the short form is only 36 items (.68-.812). Other versions, such as the Ambulatory SAQ are available as well, containing 63 items (alpha = .68-.863). Validity estimates are not published for this questionnaire.

 

1. Sexton, J. B., Helmreich, R. L., Neilands, T. B., Rowan, K., Vella, K., Boyden, J., & ... Thomas, E. J. (2006). The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire: psychometric properties, benchmarking data, and emerging research. BMC Health Services Research, 644-10. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-6-44

2. Pronovost, P., & Sexton, B. (2005). Assessing safety culture: Guidelines and recommendations. Quality Safety Health Care, 14(4), 231-233 doi:10.1136/qshc.2005.015180

3. Modak, I., Sexton, J., Lux, T. R., Helmreich, R. L., & Thomas, E. J. (2007). Measuring safety culture in the ambulatory setting: The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire—Ambulatory Version. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(1), 1-5. doi:10.1007/s11606-007-0114-7

 

 

• Hospital Survey on Patient Safety (HSOPS)

 

This survey assess seven dimensions of safety culture with 19 total items: overall culture, leadership's role in safety, learning behaviours, teamwork, communication, non-punitive response to errors, and perceptions of management support. Reliability estimates average alpha = .771 (ranging from .62 to .85 across subscales). It is considered to have moderate evidence of validity1: .42 for items measured at the individual level, .50 at the unit level, and .56 at the hospital level.

 

1. Sorra, J. S., & Dyer, N. Multilevel psychometric properties of the AHRQ hospital survey on patient safety culture. BMC Health Services Research 2010, (10). doi:10.1186/1472-6963-10-199

 

 

•  On-line Patient Safety Climate Survey (OLPSCS) 

 

The OLPSCS is comprised of 19 items. Three dimensions are measured by this survey: reporting of errors, problem-solving, and positive or negative aspects of leadership's role in safety. Internal consistency for this survey ranges from .86 to .91, with a test-retest reliability of .981. Validity estimates are not published.

 

1. Connelly, L. M., & Powers, J. L. (2005). On-line Patient Safety Climate Survey: Tool development and lessons learned. Advances in Patient Safety, 4, 415-428.  Retrived 7 Feb 2012 from <http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/advances/vol4/Connelly.pdf>

 

 

• CAPHS – Hospital Survey

 

The Hospital Survey (also known as HCAPHPS or CAHPS-Hospital) was developed to provide a standard tool for comparing patient safety and a means to collect data to improve hospitals. Academic journals investigating the reliability of this scale estimate the alpha coefficient for the subscales ranges from .58 to .751. Currently, there are 27 items. This survey assesses seven dimensions of safety culture: communication between units, responsiveness to patient requests, pain management, communicating information about medicines, discharge information, and overall culture.

 

1. Hargraves, J. L., Hays, R. D., & Cleary, P. D. (2003). Psychometric Properties of the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS) 2.0 adult core survey. Health Services Research, 6(1), 1509-27. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2003.00190.x

 

 

• Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey (HPEPSS)

 

The HPEPSS was designed at York University, and the most recently published version is from 2010. This survey is available for public use, yet psychometric properties of this scale are elusive. It contains 38 items that seem to measure a wide variety of factors: safe practices, teamwork, communication, managing risks, human/environmental factors, close calls, and overall safety culture.

 

More information can be obtained by contacting Liane Ginsburg at lgins@yorku.ca.

 

 

• (MSI) Patient Safety Cultures in Healthcare Organizations (PSCHO)

 

York University offers the latest version of this survey, published in 2010. Development of this scale was funded by the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. There are currently 40 items, measuring seven aspects of safety culture: overall safety climate, response to errors, rewards and recognition, shame, blame, frequency of safety behaviours, human error, and punitive response to errors. Reliability ranges from alpha =.58 to .891. According to a recent study, there is strong evidence of discriminant validity (correlations ranging from .00 to .30)1 and convergent validity (correlations up to .73)1.

 

1. Singer, S., Meterko, M., Baker, L., Gaba, D., Falwell, A., & Rosen, A. (2007). Workforce perceptions of hospital safety culture: Development and validation of the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations Survey. Health Services Research, 42(5), 1999-2021. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2007.00706

 

 

• Safety Climate Survey (SCS)

 

In this survey, there are 22 items measuring approximately six dimensions of safety culture: learning behaviours, response to errors, leadership's role in safety, reporting of errors, safety climate, and overall culture. High estimates of reliability have been published, demonstrating internal consistency (alpha = .75-.88)1 and test-retest reliability (.85-.90)1. Validity studies have not been made available at this time. More information is available at: http://www.uth.tmc.edu/schools/med/imed/patient_safety/questionnaires/SAQBibliography.html

 

1. Pronovost, P., & Sexton, B. (2005). Assessing safety culture: Guidelines and recommendations. Quality Safety Health Care, 14(4), 231-233 doi:10.1136/qshc.2005.015180

 

 

• Strategies for Leadership: An Organizational Approach to Patient Safety (SLOAPS) (AHA VHA Patient Safety Assessment Tool)

 

Fifty-eight items are used to measure approximately ten factors: leadership's role in safety, non-punitive response to errors, perceptions of management support, communication, teamwork, learning, overall culture, actions promoting safety, rewards and recognition, and recognizing adverse events. No data is currently available concerning the reliability or validity of this measure.