Table 2

Descriptive statistics of the outcome measure and independent variables

	n	%
Outcome measure
Please give your unit or ward an overall grade on patient safety
Failing	191	2
Poor	865	9
Acceptable	4 545	49
Very good	3 356	36
Excellent	279	3
Explanatory variables
How would you describe your role in caring for most of the patients on your most recent shift?
I provided most care myself	2 490	27
I supervised the care by others and provided some myself	5 098	55
I provided only limited care such as dressing changes or drug administration and most of the direct care was done by others	1 648	18

	Strongly disagree		Disagree		Neither		Agree		Strongly agree
	n	%	N	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
The following questions ask for your opinion about patient safety issues in your employment setting:
Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them	1 682	18	2 514	27	3 317	36	1 471	16	252	3
Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes	1 379	15	4 196	45	2 171	24	1 353	15	137	1
Things ‘fall between the cracks’ when transferring patients from one unit to another	473	5	2 602	28	2 919	32	2 829	31	413	4
Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those in authority	1 111	12	2 004	22	2 724	29	3 019	33	378	4
In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again	241	3	913	10	1 238	13	5 268	57	1 576	17
We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports	751	8	1 318	14	1 737	19	3 669	40	1 761	19
The actions of hospital management show that patient safety is a top priority	1 413	15	1 563	17	3 028	33	2 638	29	594	6