title: Assessment of safety attitudes in a skilled nursing facility.
abstract: Safety has not been well studied in the long-term care setting. This pilot study assesses staff attitudes regarding safety culture at one 250-bed skilled nursing facility. A valid and reliable Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) was administered once to a sample of 51 employees. Nursing staff and other health care staff were generally satisfied with their jobs (42% and 67% had a positive attitude, respectively) but gave low scores to Management (22% and 13%, respectively) and Safety Climate (28% and 33%, respectively). Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse management/supervisors received the highest ratings for quality of collaboration and communication (range: 3.6-4.1 on a 5-point Likert scale with 1 = very low, 5 = very high), whereas nurse practitioners and physician assistants received the lowest (range: 2.5-2.9). The SAQ provided insight into employees' safety attitudes and can be used to identify opportunities for improvements in safety.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, University at Buffalo, USA.
authors: Angela M
authors: AM
authors: Wisniewski
authors: William S
authors: WS
authors: Erdley
authors: Ranjit
authors: R
authors: Singh
authors: Timothy J
authors: TJ
authors: Servoss
authors: Bruce J
authors: BJ
authors: Naughton
authors: Gurdev
authors: G
authors: Singh
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D009728:Nursing Assistants / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D009743:Nursing, Practical / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires