Table 4

Responses to survey items

	Strongly disagree/ disagree	Neither	Strongly agree/agree	Average positive response
	Never/rarely	Some-times	Most of the time /always	Average positive response
Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes. (R)	19	20	62	19
Shift changes are problematic for patients in this hospital. (R)	19	29	53	19
It is often unpleasant to work with staff from other hospital units. (R)	20	30	50	20
Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not seem right. (R)	22	37	42	22
Whenever pressure builds up, my supervisor/manager wants us to work faster, even if it means taking shortcuts. (R)	23	21	56	23
Things “fall between the cracks” when transferring patients from one unit to another. (R)	26	29	45	26
We use more agency/temporary staff than is best for patient care. (R)	27	22	50	27
Hospital units do not coordinate well with each other. (R)	27	26	47	27
My supervisor/manager overlooks patient safety problems that happen over and over. (R)	29	15	55	29
Hospital management seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens. (R)	31	18	51	31
Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority.	28	40	33	33
We have enough staff to handle the workload.	48	16	35	35
Problems often occur in the exchange of information across hospital units. (R)	35	34	31	35
When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem. (R)	46	27	27	46
Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them. (R)	49	27	24	49
We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports.	13	34	54	54
We work in “crisis mode” trying to do too much, too quickly. (R)	57	22	21	57
There is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together.	18	25	58	58
Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care.	13	29	58	58
Mistakes have led to positive changes here.	12	23	65	65
We are informed about errors that happen in this unit.	11	24	66	66
In this unit, people treat each other with respect.	16	18	67	67
Staff in this unit work longer hours than is best for patient care. (R)	67	16	17	67
Hospital units work well together to provide the best care for patients.	11	19	70	70
In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again.	10	20	70	70
My supervisor/manager says a good word when he/she sees a job done according to established patient safety procedures.	14	15	71	71
Hospital management provides a work climate that promotes patient safety.	12	18	71	71
Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file. (R)	72	16	12	72
My supervisor/manager seriously considers staff suggestions for improving patient safety.	10	17	73	73
The actions of hospital management show that patient safety is a top priority.	14	12	74	74
When a lot of work needs to be done quickly, we work together as a team to get the work done.	13	12	75	75
After we make changes to improve patient safety, we evaluate their effectiveness.	8	16	76	76
People support one another in this unit.	11	13	76	76
We are actively doing things to improve patient safety.	6	8	86	86