Patient Safety Survey
In September, Trustee asked you and your CEO to help the AHA better understand your board's participation in patient safety activities. As Ernest Sutton, chair of the AHA's Committee on Governance (COG), explains in his column on page 6, this survey may prove helpful. The findings, displayed in the bar charts below, are based on 196 survey responses: Sixty-eight percent of respondents represent individual hospitals, and the remaining 32 percent represent hospital systems. Fifty-seven percent of respondents identified themselves as board members, 26 percent as CEOs and 17 percent as board chairs. Forty-one percent of those answering the survey represent small facilities (fewer than 100 beds), 42 percent represent medium-sized facilities (100 to 399 beds), and 17 percent of respondents represent large (400 or more beds) organizations. Not all respondents replied to all questions. In questions 2, 7 and 8, multiple responses were given.
1. Is patient safety a regular agenda item at most board meetings of your hospital or health system, or does the board see regular reports on patient safety issues (e.g., new equipment, near-misses, etc.)?
| Number of Respondents | Response Ratio |
|
| Patient safety is not always on the agenda, but the board sees regular formal reports | 48 | 24% |
| Patient safety is on the agenda at board meetings, but the board does not see regular formal reports | 15 | 8% |
| Yes both | 122 | 62% |
| No neither | 11 | 6% |
|
TOTAL |
196 | 100% |
2. What types of patient safety information does the board see?
| Number of Response | Response Ratio |
|
| Sentinel events | 144 | 74% |
| Recommendations for improvements in patient safety | 142 | 73% |
| Near-misses | 94 | 48% |
| Patient interviews | 57 | 29% |
| Other | 39 | 20% |
| Staff interviews | 35 | 18% |
| The board does not see any specific patient safety information | 17 | 8% |
| Don't know | 6 | 3% |
|
TOTAL |
194 |
3. Has there been any board education on patient safety or medication errors?
| Number of Respondents | Response Ratio |
|
| Yes on patient safety only | 20 | 10% |
| Yes on medication errors only | 8 | 4% |
| Yes on both | 127 | 66% |
| No | 36 | 19% |
|
TOTAL |
191 | 99% |
4. How long have you been in your current position there?
| Number of Respondents | Response Ratio |
|
| Less than 1 year | 20 | 12% |
| 1 to 3 years | 32 | 19% |
| 3 to 5 years | 37 | 22% |
| More than 5 years | 76 | 46% |
|
TOTAL |
165 | 99% |
5. In the last three years, has there been a change in the amount of attention paid to patient safety by your board?
| Number of Respondents | Response Ratio | |
| No, there's been no noticeable change | 30 | 18% |
| Yes, there's been more attention to patient safety | 136 | 81% |
|
TOTAL |
166 | 99% |
6. How many staffed beds does your hospital have?
| Number of Respondents | Response Ratio | |
| 6-24 beds | 20 | 12% |
| 25-49 beds | 30 | 18% |
| 50-99 beds | 18 | 11% |
| 100-199 beds | 34 | 21% |
| 200-299 beds | 20 | 12% |
| 300-399 beds | 14 | 8% |
| 400-499 beds | 9 | 5% |
| 500 or more beds | 20 | 12% |
|
TOTAL |
165 | 99% |
7. If your board has had any education, by whom was it provided?
| Number of Responces | Response Ratio | |
| Hospital or system medical staff | 61 | 41% |
| State hospital association | 37 | 25% |
| Outside consultants/ experts | 37 | 25% |
| Through literature | 56 | 37% |
| Outside conferences and seminars | 43 | 29% |
| Other | 13 | 8% |
| Hospital or system administration | 131 | 88% |
|
TOTAL |
378 |
8. On what topics would you like additional information or education in your role as a health care provider or board member?
| Number of Responses | Response Ratio | |
| Health care quality improvement | 115 | 72% |
| Physician relations | 96 | 60% |
| Patient safety | 95 | 59% |
| New information technology for health care | 89 | 55% |
| Health care financing and reimbursement | 65 | 40% |
| Community accountability | 56 | 35% |
| New clinical technology for health care surgical equipment and techniques | 53 | 33% |
| Medicare/Medicaid financing in particular | 50 | 31% |
| Community benefit | 50 | 31% |
| Chronic disease management | 47 | 29% |
| Decision-making concerning capital investments | 45 | 28% |
| Workforce development | 45 | 28% |
| Medical malpractice | 38 | 23% |
| Other | 4 | 2% |
|
TOTAL |
848 |
9. What is your position at the hospital or health system at which you
work/on whose board you serve?
| Number of Responses | Response Ratio | |
| Board chair | 26 | 16% |
| Board member | 93 | 57% |
| CEO | 45 | 27% |
|
TOTAL |
164 | 100% |
- For 56 percent of the respondents, patient safety education was a routine/ongoing board event. For only 5 percent of the respondents, no education was provided.
- 81 percent of the respondents indicated the board has increased attention paid to patient safety over the last three years.
- No differences were observed across size, position and system affiliation categories.
- The majority of the respondents, at 67 percent, indicated that there has been board education on both patient safety and medication errors. Only 19 percent of the respondents indicated that there was no such education.
- Respondents from large (76 percent) and medium-sized (73 percent) facilities indicated that there has been more board education on both patient safety and medication errors than did respondents from the smallest facilities (66 percent).
This article 1st appeared in the December 2099 issue of Trustee Magazine.
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