Background on the Hospital SOPS: In
1999, the Institute of Medicine called for health care
organizations to develop a "culture of safety" such that their
workforce and processes focus on improving the reliability and
safety of care for patients (IOM, 1999; To Err is Human: Building a
Safer Health System). To respond to the need for tools to assess
patient safety culture in health care, AHRQ developed and pilot
tested the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture with OMB
approval (OMB NO. 0935-0115; Approved 2/4/2003). The survey was
designed to enable hospitals to assess staff opinions about patient
safety issues, medical error, and error reporting and includes 42
items that measure 12 dimensions of patient safety culture. AHRQ
released the survey in the public domain along with a Survey User's
Guide and other toolkit materials in November 2004 on the AHRQ web
site. Since its release, the survey has been voluntarily used by
hundreds of hospitals in the U.S. Rationale for the information
collection: The Hospital SOPS survey and the Hospital SOPS
Comparative Database are supported by AHRQ to meet its goals of
promoting improvements in the quality and safety of health care in
hospital settings. The surveys, toolkit materials, and comparative
database results are all made available in the public domain along
with technical assistance, provided by AHRQ through its contractor
at no charge to hospitals, to facilitate the use of these materials
for hospital patient safety and quality improvement.
US Code:
42
USC 299 Name of Law: Healthcare Research and Quality Act of
1999
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.