Collection of Information for AHRQ's Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Comparative Database

The SOPS Hospital Survey is designed to enable hospitals to assess provider and staff perspectives about patient safety issues, medical error, and error reporting. In 2004, Version 1.0 of the survey, which includes 42 items that measure 12 composites of patient safety culture, was released on the AHRQ website. AHRQ made the survey publicly available along with a Survey User’s Guide and other toolkit materials. In 2019, an updated version of the survey, Version 2.0, was released on the AHRQ website (OMB 0935-0230, approved 01/21/2016). This version includes a total of 40 items: 32 items across 10 composite measures, 2 single-item measures, and 6 background questions. The AHRQ SOPS Hospital Database consists of data from the AHRQ SOPS Hospital Survey 2.0 and may include reportable, non-required supplemental items . Hospitals in the U.S. can voluntarily submit data from the survey to AHRQ, through its contractor, Westat. The SOPS Hospital Database (OMB NO. 0935-0162, last approved on October 18, 2022) was developed by AHRQ in 2006 in response to requests from hospitals interested in tracking their own survey results. Organizations submitting data receive a feedback report, as well as a report of the aggregated, de-identified findings of the other hospitals submitting data. These reports are used to assist hospital staff in their efforts to improve patient safety culture in their organizations. Rationale for the information collection. The SOPS Hospital Survey and the SOPS Hospital Database support AHRQ’s goals of promoting improvements in the quality and safety of healthcare in hospitals. The survey, toolkit materials, and database results are all made publicly available on AHRQ’s website. Technical assistance is 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. The SOPS Hospital Database seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the current state of patient safety culture in hospitals? 2. Has there been a change in patient safety culture scores since the previous database? 3. Are there differences in scores based on staff position and unit/work area? The goals of the SOPS Hospital Database are: 1. Produce aggregated results from hospitals that voluntarily submit their data; and 2. Provide feedback reports to hospitals that voluntarily submit their data to help them identify their strengths and areas for improvement in patient safety culture.

The latest form for Collection of Information for AHRQ's Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Comparative Database expires 2029-02-28 and can be found here.

Eligibility/Registration Form and Data Submission

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Health - Consumer Health and Safety

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