The SOPS®, a suite of healthcare-specific patient safety culture surveys developed by AHRQ, remains one of the most effective culture measurement tools. The core surveys, tested and vetted by survey experts and healthcare professionals, gather valuable data about employees’ perceptions of safety culture. AHRQ has added supplemental question sets to meet organizations’ more focused needs. Both the core surveys and standard supplemental questions sets permit cross-comparisons and benchmarks.
The latest addition to the AHRQ SOPS® suite is the Workplace Safety Supplemental Items for the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety™. This new set of questions inquires about staff perceptions of workplace-related hazards arising from physical and verbal aggression (patient or co-worker), stress, physical hazards, and more. The 22 standard questions can be grouped into composites, each evaluating a specific characteristic of workplace safety.
A pilot study of 28 U.S. hospitals conducted from May to June 2021 surveyed more than 7000 respondents. Findings from the pilot indicate most staff perceive their organization as competent at protecting staff, evaluating the effectiveness of policies, leadership support, and occupational tools and resources. Forty-nine percent (49%) of the respondents reported concerns from verbal aggression from patients, and 34% indicated physical aggression is a problem.
In addition to Workplace Safety, AHRQ has released supplemental question sets for Value and Efficiency, Diagnostic Safety, and Health Information Technology.
The Center for Patient Safety always offers the option to add AHRQ supplemental question sets at no additional cost. We can help you identify the most valuable questions or sets of questions while compiling your survey to maintain the validity of local and national benchmarks.
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