Table 3.
Hospital Nurses’ Reports of Patient Safety and Organizational Support
| Variable | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Overall Safety | |
| Overall grade on patient safety | |
| Favorable (A or B) | 14,529 (59.1) |
| Unfavorable (C, D, or F) | 10,056 (40.9) |
| Overall grade on the prevention of infections | |
| Favorable (A or B) | 17,016 (68.6) |
| Unfavorable (C, D, or F) | 7,799 (31.4) |
| Patient Safety Culturea | |
| Nurses agree that: | |
| Mistakes are held against them | 11,525 (46.5) |
| Things “fall between the cracks” when transferring patients from one unit or care setting to another | 9,968 (40.5) |
| Important patient care information is often lost during shift changes or when another provider is covering my patients | 8,723 (35.4) |
| Nurses disagree that: | |
| Staff are free to question the decisions or actions of those in authority | 8,874 (36.0) |
| Actions of management show that patient safety is a top priority | 6,407 (26.1) |
| They are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports | 5,829 (23.7) |
| They discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again | 2,828 (11.5) |
| Operational Failures | |
| Work is interrupted or delayed by: | |
| Insufficient staff | 17,860 (88.3) |
| Performing non-nursing tasks (e.g., transportation, housekeeping) | 16,358 (81.5) |
| Missing supplies or broken equipment | 16,145 (79.6) |
| Missing medications | 13,115 (66.1) |
| Missing, incomplete, or incorrect physician/provider orders | 13,137 (65.4) |
| Electronic documentation system problems or errors | 10,787 (54.3) |
| Missing, late, or wrong diet | 8,969 (51.7) |
| Missed Nursing Care | |
| Nursing tasks that were necessary but left undoneb: | |
| Comfort/talk with patients | 10,024 (33.6) |
| Teach/counsel patients and family | 8,177 (27.4) |
| Adequately document nursing care | 6,873 (23.0) |
| Address ambulation or range of motion | 6,860 (23.0) |
| Participate in team discussions of patient’s care | 6,526 (21.9) |
| Adequate patient surveillance | 6,272 (21.0) |
| Address oral hygiene | 5,996 (20.1) |
| Develop or update patient plan of care | 5,967 (20.0) |
| Administer medications on time | 5,518 (18.5) |
| Prepare patient and families for discharge | 4,645 (15.6) |
| Administer treatments and procedures on time | 4,577 (15.3) |
| Provide skin care | 4,484 (15.0) |
| Coordinate patient care | 3,749 (12.6) |
| Pain management | 2,472 (8.3) |
Note. Percentages may not total 100% because of rounding.
a
Derived from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture.
b
Nursing tasks were necessary but left undone during their most recent shift due to a lack of time.