TY - JOUR T1 - Safety culture assessment: a tool for improving patient safety in healthcare organizations JF - Quality and Safety in Health Care JO - Qual Saf Health Care SP - ii17 LP - ii23 DO - 10.1136/qhc.12.suppl_2.ii17 VL - 12 IS - suppl 2 AU - V F Nieva AU - J Sorra Y1 - 2003/12/01 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/12/suppl_2/ii17.abstract N2 - Increasingly, healthcare organizations are becoming aware of the importance of transforming organizational culture in order to improve patient safety. Growing interest in safety culture has been accompanied by the need for assessment tools focused on the cultural aspects of patient safety improvement efforts. This paper discusses the use of safety culture assessment as a tool for improving patient safety. It describes the characteristics of culture assessment tools presently available and discusses their current and potential uses, including brief examples from healthcare organizations that have undertaken such assessments. The paper also highlights critical processes that healthcare organizations need to consider when deciding to use these tools. ER -