Less than half of hospital workers sure they won't face punishment for mistakes: AHRQ survey

Relatively few hospital workers are confident they will not face punishment for mistakes or patient-safety event reports, according to the latest findings of a rolling national survey of hospital administrative and clinical staff.

The 2011 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found only 44% of responding hospital workers were confident they would not face punishment in such patient-safety situations. That low confidence rate was ranked as the leading area of patient-safety improvement needed among hospitals, according to a report on the survey.

The 2011 survey data, collected online and through written paper forms, included responses from staff at 1,032 hospitals. However, the survey data included both recent responses from 566 hospitals submitted for the latest report and previously submitted responses from 466 hospitals. The online database of hospital responses aims to provide a national baseline to which hospitals can compare their own patient-safety efforts.

Other areas where the report found improvement was needed included the extent to which “important patient-care information” is shared within hospitals and between changing shifts and a lack of patient-safety events reported by the majority of respondents.