Table 1.

Cronbach’s α and Distribution of Positive Responses for Survey Composites

		Average % Positive Response	Average	SD
	Overall perceptions of patient safety (Cronbach’s α = 0.512)	56.9	885.5	931.3
1.1	It is just by chance that more serious mistakes do not happen around here (R)	31.5	123	138.6
1.15	Patient safety is never sacrificed to get more work done	68.4	268	250.3
1.17	We have patient safety problems in this unit (R)	54.5	207	206.4
1.18	Our procedures and systems are good at preventing errors from happening	73	785	335.8
	Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting patient safety (Cronbach’s α = 0.763)	61.2	947	990
2.1	My supervisor/manager says a good word when he/she sees a job done according to established patient safety procedures	81	313.5	14.8
2.2	My supervisor/manager seriously considers staff suggestions for improving patient safety	74	286	296
2.3	Whenever pressure builds up, my supervisor/manager wants us to work faster, even if it means taking shortcuts (R)	45	176	214.9
2.4	My supervisor/manager overlooks patient safety problems that happen over and over (R)	44.5	171.5	191.6
	Organizational learning – continuous improvement (Cronbach’s α = 0.712)	75.4	891.5	836.5
1.6	We are actively doing things to improve patient safety	91.4	360.5	251
1.9	Mistakes have led to positive changes here	85.6	232	267.2
1.13	After we make changes to improve patient safety, we evaluate their effectiveness	76	299	318.2
	Teamwork within units (Cronbach’s α = 0.650)	21.4	343.5	284.3
1.1	People support one another in this unit	22.3	355	274.4
1.3	When a lot of work needs to be done quickly, we work together as a team to get the work done	22	346.5	272
1.4	In this unit, people treat each other with respect	24	355	260.2
1.11	When one area in this unit gets really busy, other help out	22	346.5	272.2
	Non-punitive response to error (Cronbach’s α = 0.602)	21.4	252	299.1
1.8	Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them (R)	25.3	99.5	112.4
1.12	When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem (R)	23.5	93	107.5
1.16	Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file (R)	15.3	59.5	64.3
	Staffing (Cronbach’s α = 0.103)	20	320	266.3
1.2	We have enough staff to handle the workload	38.5	154	63.6
1.5	Staff in this unit work longer hours than is best for patient care (R)	5	20	22.6
1.7	We use more agency/temporary staff than is best for patient care (R)	24.1	94	82
1.14	We work in “crisis mode” trying to do too much, too quickly (R)	13.3	52	57.6
	Management support for patient safety (Cronbach’s α = 0.396)	63.7	745	760.8
6.1	Hospital management provides a work climate that promotes patient safety	80.7	317.5	344.4
6.8	The actions of hospital management show that patient safety is a top priority	72.6	281	253.1
6.9	Hospital management seems interested in patient safety only after an adverse event happens	37.8	146.5	163.3
	Teamwork across units (Cronbach’s α = 0.569)	57.1	889.1	959.5
6.4	There is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together	66.2	259.5	297.7
6.10	Hospital units work well together to provide the best care for patients	70.8	272.5	296.2
6.2	Hospital units do not coordinate well with each other	49.5	194.5	215
6.6	It is often unpleasant to work with staff from other hospital units (R)	42	163	191.6
	Handoffs and Transitions (Cronbach’s α = 0.767)	46	709	792
6.3	Things “fall between the cracks” when transferring patients from one unit to another (R)	37.8	145.5	167.6
6.5	Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes (R)	57.4	222	214.9
6.7	Problems often occur in the exchange of information across hospital units (R)	41	158	200.8
6.11	Shift changes are problematic for patients in this hospital (R)	48	183.5	208.6
	Communication Openness (Cronbach’s α = 0.645)	45.9	542	332.3
3.2	Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care	57.4	226.5	181.7
3.4	Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority	40.4	157.5	109.6
3.6	Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not seem right (R)	40	158	41
	Feedback and communication about error (Cronbach’s α = 0.729)	67	784.5	463.2
3.1	We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports	55.6	217.5	201.5
3.3	We are informed about errors that happen in this unit	73.7	288.5	187.4
3.5	In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again	71.5	278.5	74.2
	Frequency of events reported (Cronbach’s α = 0.923)	65.2	752	213.5
4.1	When a mistake is made, but is caught and corrected before affecting the patient, how often is this reported?	65.4	252	90.5
4.2	When a mistake is made, but has no potential to harm the patient, how often is this reported?	60.7	234	72.1
4.3	When a mistake is made that could harm the patient, but does not, how often is this reported?	69.5	266	51

Notes: Adapted from Sorra and Nieva.¹² The composite-level percentage of positive responses was calculated using the following formula: [number of positive responses to the items in the composite/total number of responses to the items (positive, neutral and negative) in the composite (excluding missing responses)]× 100. Negatively worded items that were reverse coded (R). The bold font in the numbers indicate the values for each dimension.

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.