Hospitals are making progress in a number of areas related to safety culture, including teamwork and leadership, according to a report from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Released in 2004, AHRQ's 42-item Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture allows employees at participating hospitals to report on their organization's approach to open communication, patient handoffs and other safety topics. The agency released the first comparative report of survey data in 2007, covering 382 hospitals.

This latest report is based on data from 1,128 hospitals and more than 500,000 respondents.

“A database was also needed so hospitals and units in hospitals could determine how well they were doing in establishing a culture of safety in comparison to other similar hospitals or hospital units,” AHRQ said.

Non-teaching hospitals scored higher, on average, than teaching hospitals on items related to teamwork and patient handoffs, according to the report's findings. Respondents working in rehabilitation gave the best overall scores—69% positive—while those working in the emergency department gave the lowest—57% positive.

In the report, AHRQ identified staffing, non-punitive responses to error, and patient handoffs and transitions as three areas for improvement for most hospitals. The agency also outlined ways that hospitals can use their survey data to guide improvement efforts.